McCoy recieves State call-up

Evan Williams has picked champion jockey Tony McCoy to ride bet365 Charlie Hall Chase favourite State Of Play.

The Welshman would usually rely on Paul Moloney for his stable star and then Christian Williams – but circumstances have conspired against him.

However, he has a more than adequate replacement for Wetherby’s showpiece event on Saturday in McCoy, who has booted home plenty of winners for the yard in the past.

State Of Play, the 7-2 market leader with the sponsors, seems to run well fresh and won the Hennessy on his first outing of last season before finishing sixth in the Cheltenham Gold Cup.

“I’ve booked Tony,” said Williams. “It was a difficult one. Paul normally rides him but he has a one-day ban.

“I use Paul and Christian, but Christian has an agreement with my owners, the Cunninghams, and needs to ride Demi Beau for them in a good race at Ascot.

“But Tony is a great jockey and everything is done with the horse now. Preparation has gone very smoothly and we are still counting down the days.”

Demi Beau, who will attempt to go one place better than last year in the Byrne Group Handicap Chase, is also going well.

“He’s in exceptional form actually,” added Williams.

“We also put him in the Haldon Gold Cup next week in case anything happened at Ascot but he seems to like the track so it makes sense to start him off there.”

Three points longer in the betting than State Of Play is Ollie Magern, who could have gone for Ascot’s United House Gold Cup but seems to prefer it in West Yorkshire.

The Nigel Twiston-Davies-trained nine-year-old is two from two at the track, having scored in Grade Two company as a novice and then at the same level when outpointing Kingscliff in the Charlie Hall of 2005.

Twiston-Davies said: “He’s definitely going to Wetherby on Saturday.

“He had his usual rheumatics and aches and pains last term and his form tailed off a little bit, but he’s really back in good form now and I think the vets have all that stabilised.”

Ollie Magern has failed to hit the target since winning the £90,000 Charlie Hall two years ago, but Twiston-Davies is in a positive mood ahead of his repeat bid.

“Everything’s gone very well and he’s in great form,” the Naunton handler added.

“His first run of the season is always his best and he’s very well-in at the weights with most of the horses in that race, so I’m very confident.”