McCoy handed Gift ride
Tony McCoy will partner 2004 Stayers’ Hurdle hero Iris’s Gift in a race for the first time when he makes his eagerly-awaited seasonal debut at Market Rasen tomorrow.
The champion jockey replaces regular pilot Barry Geraghty after owner Robert Lester made what he described as “one of the hardest decisions of my life.”
“Barry and his family are very good friends of mine and I wanted him to ride the horse but he couldn’t commit himself to us all season. Of course, he rides Kicking King and we might come up against him at some point,” Lester said.
“We said whoever rode him in his first race would have the ride for the rest of the season.
“But I was absolutely gutted and Barry was devastated. I had to make the phone call to tell him. It was one of the hardest decisions of my life.
“I know Tony McCoy also would have been upset. He’s been schooling him for the last two months and he has won on him over hurdles at Cheltenham.”
However, connections have warned the eight-year-old could miss out if the ground at the Lincolnshire track is not suitable and be rerouted instead to either Tipperary on Sunday week or Bangor the following Saturday.
“Jonjo and I will walk the course in the morning and if there’s firm in it he won’t run. He’s had his racecourse gallop and he’s ready to go. It looks an ideal opportunity,” said Lester.
Iris’s Gift is among seven horses declared for the £21,000 Blue Square Novices’ Chase over an extended two and three-quarter miles.
He was restricted to just one run in the last campaign, finishing last of five behind It Takes Time in a Grade One chase at Lingfield last February in what was his debut over fences.
O’Neill told At The Races: “He’s in great form. He’s schooled well and he’s done everything well so now we just have to hope the ground is OK.
“We are looking forward to it.
“He’s a terrific horse to have. He’s been great and he really likes to bowl along up there. Bob will probably never find another one as good as him. He’s a super horse.
“He’s a great galloper. The softer the ground is for the better for him. He doesn’t really want it too fast.
“They have been watering all week and down the far side they’re saying it is a bit on the quicker side, but they’re still watering and they are supposed to get quite a drop of rain this afternoon so hopefully it will bucket down.”
The going at Market Rasen has eased slightly to good from good, good to firm in places after five millimetres of rain
“We’ve had five millimetres of rain today. It’s now stopped and should be dry overnight,” said clerk of the course Nick Patton.
“The ground may dry out a little but not much as we haven’t got the high temperatures of a month ago.
“The ground is on the easy side of good in some places and firmer in others. It’s genuinely good jumping ground.”
O’Neill also saddles Tigers Lair in the race in which the Philip Hobbs-trained Fool On The Hill and Sweet Diversion, from Paul Nicholls’s stable, look the main opposition.
Despite having yet to win over fences, Iris’s Gift is 25-1 for the totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup next March.
