Mud-loving American set to trump his rivals

COUNT on star chaser AMERICAN (Cheltenham, 2.25) to earn his stripes and trump his rivals in today’s Betbright Trial Cotswold Chase. Admittedly, backing a horse which was pulled up on his seasonal reappearance may not be for the faint-hearted, but there were mitigating circumstances at Newbury. The ground may not have been soft enough for the mud-loving eight-year-old, while he also lost a shoe and suffered an over-reach before rider Noel Fehily called a halt. Trainer Harry Fry is on record about American’s history of ailments, so he is hardly the most robust of characters. Fry told his Betway blog: ‘If we were certain he was the horse of last season we’d think he’d have a great chance, but we’re more going their hoping, rather than knowing. ‘He’s doing everything fine and is well in himself, but we’ve said how fragile he is before and it may just be catching up with him.’ That said, he is extremely talented in his favoured conditions and further rain this morning will help. I can’t believe his talented trainer would take a chance on running the gelding if he wasn’t totally happy. And American may find the track more to his liking than likely market leader Bristol De Mai, who has made a series of jumping errors on the two previous occasions he has visited Prestbury Park. Nigel Twiston-Davies’s grey seems much more at home on Haydock’s flat track, so he is overlooked with a chance taken on American.