O'Neill's festival still unclear

Jonjo O’Neill was giving out few clues to ante-post punters as his yard became the latest to throw its doors open to the media.

The master of Jackdaws Castle plans to have a team of well over a dozen runners at next week’s Festival, including stalwarts such as Intersky Falcon in the Smurfit Kappa Champion Hurdle and Iris’s Gift in the totesport Gold Cup.

But those hoping for news of planned targets for horses such as Black Jack Ketchum and Refinement, who hold multiple Cheltenham engagements next week, were to be left disappointed with O’Neill intending to wait as late as possible before making such decisions.

Indeed, with the Irish handler determined to avoid pitching his two best novice hurdlers against each other, running plans for one horse could well affect those for the other.

“Refinement would have the mares’ allowance in the SunAlliance (Hurdle) but she is also in the Coral Cup and the Supreme Novices’,” he said.

“The Coral Cup is a rough-and-tough race where if she got banged about she might not be tough enough but we’ll have to see what looks best for her.

“She didn’t get the hang of hurdling at first and she was desperate at Uttoxeter first time out but she gradually got the hang of things and jumped very well at Huntingdon the other day.

“She won well but she didn’t beat anything. She should have did what she did do and I’d still just be a little worried about her jumping.

“If she missed out the first then she could get behind early on.

“Black Jack Ketchum will be left in the three-miler (Brit Insurance Novices’ Hurdle) and the SunAlliance at the five-day stage and we will see.

“We didn’t fancy taking on Denman for £10,000 at Bangor so we ducked that one and he hasn’t had a run for a while but he’s not a big, gross horse who takes a lot of getting fit.

“I’ll have a chat with the owners and we will decide. The ground will be a big factor too.”

The trainer initially said that he preferred the three-mile option on the final day of the meeting before casting doubt over the seven-year-old’s stamina for the trip.

“He has the pace to travel but I am not convinced that three miles is ideal,” he added.

“He’s won over three but it wasn’t really a three-mile gallop.”

One horse about whom there is no uncertainty is Iris’s Gift, who goes for the Gold Cup – despite a build-up which has not gone totally to plan.

“My dream is for him to win the Gold Cup and sometimes dreams can come true,” O’Neill smiled.

“He’s a real machine when everything goes right and a drop of rain wouldn’t do him any harm.

“It’s a very open Gold Cup and hopefully he will go there with a chance.

“There’s no other horse in the race who has won the Stayers’ Hurdle (now the Ladbrokes World Hurdle) so he’d be the class horse in the race.

“I’m looking forward to him running.”

Bookmakers Paddy Power have cut O’Neill from 16-1 to 12-1 to be the meeting’s champion trainer, but even one winner would satisfy him at this stage.

“It’s a magic meeting – a great thrash,” he said.

“JP (McManus, the stable’s main patron) just loves it. He gets a real kick out of it and you couldn’t have enough runners for him at the meeting.

“We’ve got a few chances and it would be great to be lucky there.”