Part-owner John Hales has considerable confidence in Protektorat, who is early 7/1 favourite with the sponsors for next month's Paddy Power Gold Cup at Cheltenham.
Hales, who shares ownership with former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, Ged Mason and Lisa Hales, has tasted Paddy Power Gold Cup glory on his own in 2012, courtesy of the Paul Nicholls-trained Al Ferof, and now looks to land the prestigious prize with the Dan Skelton-trained six-year-old.
Protektorat, who won a novices' chase around the same course and distance at Prestbury Park at the November meeting last year, was last seen bouncing back from some lesser winter displays at Wincanton and Kelso with a resounding success over The Shunter in the Grade One Manifesto Novices' Chase at Aintree on April 8.
Having his first outing following a breathing operation that day, he scored by three and three-quarter lengths and duly rose from a mark of 150 to 154 in the BHA handicap.
Hales said: “It was an excellent performance at Aintree and fingers crossed I genuinely think this is a very good horse. He’s had a few niggling problems, but he was fit that day and produced a lovely performance.
“The Paddy Power Gold Cup is the early-season target and this race was always the plan over the summer after that performance. He has matured very well in the summer, grown up physically and developed very well and this was the logical target to go for.”
The ground was officially described as good to soft when he won that top-class event in Liverpool, and all four of his career victories have come on a surface with soft in the going description.
“I think he is a typical French-bred and likes a bit of cut in the ground,” continued the owner. "The softer side of good – it doesn’t matter to him."
Providing all goes well at Cheltenham, Protektorat might have some even loftier targets later on this season, Hales saying: “I would normally have something in mind but he likes to go left-handed rather than right-handed. If he produced a top performance, I’d say the King George but he won’t be going for that as he doesn’t like going right-handed so that’s a non-starter and we’ll have to talk to Dan.
“Possibly the Ryanair Chase could be an option later – he’s an improving horse and at this stage we’ll keep all opportunities open and see how he’s running.
"I’m very confident in this horse and hopefully if he keeps fit, the Ryanair could be one of many options at Cheltenham or Aintree."
Protektorat is currently 25/1 with Paddy for the Ryanair Chase in March.
Paddy Power Gold Cup
Sponsors betting: 7/1 Protektorat, 12/1 Caribean Boy, 14/1 Alnadam, Fusil Raffles, Hitman, Simply The Betts, 16/1 Belargus, Dostal Phil, Espoir De Romay, 20/1 Assemble, Cepage, Coconut Splash, Coole Cody, Financier, Lalor, Laskalin, Pistol Whipped, Senior Citizen, Zanza, 25s bar.
Sky Bet odds | Paddy Power | Betfair Sportsbook
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