Galway trainer unfazed by having Cheltenham Gold Cup favourite

HE’LL be housing the ante-post favourite for the Cheltenham Gold Cup next year – the most coveted prize in National Hunt racing – but don’t expect Pat Kelly to have sleepless nights over the prospect.

The Galway trainer will continue to do things his own way and stay in the background after Presenting Percy swept all before him for the second time at the Cheltenham Festival last week.

The seven-year-old belied a somewhat unconventional preparation for the RSA Novice Chase when putting a high-quality field and runner-up Monalee to the sword under regular partner Davy Russell.

Fears about the untypically soft ground were allayed as Presenting Percy, travelling like a dream throughout, barely touched a twig to follow up his victory in the Pertemps Handicap Hurdle at the festival 12 months previously.

Carrying the colours of Philp Reynolds, son of former Taoiseach Albert, Presenting Percy will not be seen again this season as Kelly plans to freshen up his stable star up for a crack at chasing’s Blue Riband prize in 2018.

The Craughwell handler came within a whisker of pulling off a dream double in the Cotswolds last week when his other Pertemps winner, Mall Dini, just failed to catch Missed Approach on the climb to the line in the Kim Muir Chase.

Kelly, who shuns the limelight and proved an elusive target for all sections of the media in Cheltenham last week, has always known that the horse he purchased from Tom Costello Jnr in Newmarket-on-Fergus had the potential to be something special.

“He showed it from the start on the gallops and does things so easily. Percy has that touch of class and is a neat, efficient jumper. You obviously need luck in this game but the plan is to target the Gold Cup next year.”

■ For more on this story, see the print edition of the Connacht Tribune.