Zeb can have another big day
Colm Murphy has to be delighted the ground has come right for his ten-year-old, who took this a year ago in some style.
He got through heavy ground to win at Navan and Leopardstown this season and was then surprised by Golden Silver at Punchestown.
Big Zeb was probably in front a trifle early that day and can be confidently supported to reverse the placings, on the much improved surface.
Master Minded, all the better for a wind operation in the summer, has to be the main danger.
It would be wrong to conclude that he is back to his imperious best, but Master Minded is unbeaten in three races this season and will arrive in decent shape.
He didn’t please everyone at Ascot last time, when scrambling to a short head defeat of Somersby.
But Tony McCoy admitted afterward that he put Paul Nicholls’ charge in front far too soon and it is certain Ruby Walsh will exercise much more restraint.
Prior to that the selection again showed his liking for Cheltenham, but it was his first outing of the campaign which was the most impressive.
He was quite brilliant when scoring at Ascot in November, but is most effective with plenty of cut in the ground and is unlikely to get that now.
There is growing confidence behind Willie Mullins’ So Young in the Neptune Investment Management Novices’ Hurdle.
The ex-French horse has coasted to successes at Leopardstown and Punchestown and could be anything.
Normally, I would rely on proven Grade 1 form and Jessica Harrington’s Oscars Well could be regarded as the logical solution.
He has gone from strength to strength through the campaign and was superb in the Deloitte Novice Hurdle at Leopardstown last time, scoring by five and a half lengths.
But Zaidpour, second, and Hidden Universe, fourth, in the Deloitte made little show in the opener here yesterday and that’s most disconcerting.
Betting in the Coral Cup is not for the faint-hearted, but it does house a potentially well-handicapped horse in Mullins’ Call The Police.
He seems to have improved dramatically since moving to this yard, finishing second in the fiercely competitive MCR Hurdle at Leopardstown and then scoring with a lot in hand at Punchestown.
It is surely only be a matter of time before Gordon Elliot trains a festival winner and it could come with Chicago Grey in thee four mile National hunt chase. Again the drying surface is in his favour and he should relish the extreme trip.
