Monkfish and Paul Townend© Photo Healy Racing
Monkfish’s entry in the Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup is considered “optimistic” by connections as the former exciting novice bids to return from an absence now in excess of 20 months.
The Stowaway gelding has two Cheltenham Festival victories on his CV having won the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle in 2020 and 12 months later justified prohibitive odds of 1/4 in the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase.
A seven-race winning streak came to an end the following month at the Punchestown Festival and the now nine-year-old has been sidelined since through injury.
Owner Rich Ricci’s racing manager Joe Chambers described the Gold Cup entry as “optimistic” when speaking on the Nick Luck podcast.
“He’s tipping away doing a little bit of cantering but entries closed this week and in the event that he comes right we said that we would make an entry.
“Whether he takes that up or runs before that we don’t know at this stage.”
Monkfish is a general 33/1 shot for the Gold Cup and one of five entries in the blue riband for trainer Willie Mullins who also has the favourite Galopin Des Champs.
Chambers also gave an insight into Cheltenham plans for other high profile horses in the famous pink Ricci colours saying, “I would imagine Vauban and Sharjah will run in the Champion Hurdle if everything went well.
“It is unlikely that Sharjah will run again as he doesn’t seem to act at the track that Leopardstown use for the Dublin Racing Festival but that is Vauban’s next intended target as well and we were thrilled with his comeback run.
“If Chacun Pour Soi runs I would have thought it would more likely be the Ryanair than the Champion Chase.
“I think we would all have it in our head that we would like to see him running around Aintree. He needs to get a one on the board this season so we’ll aim him at the Kinloch Brae in Thurles and step him up in trip that way and go from there.”
