Foxhunter win can seal O’Neill’s Festival legacy
THE LEGENDARY Jonjo O’Neill will always be synonymous with many of the iconic moments in Cheltenham history.
As a jockey, his Champion Hurdle win on Peter Easterby’s Sea Pigeon, and Gold Cup heroics on Dawn Run, are part of Festival folklore.
More recently, O’Neill trained the subsequently ill-fated Synchronised to win the 2012 Gold Cup under an inspired AP Mc Coy.
But even O’Neill says victory for the enigmatic Minella Rocco in the St James’s Place Foxhunter Chase next Friday will match many of his past feats.
Since capturing the National Hunt Chase at the 2016 Festival and finishing runner-up in the following year’s Gold Cup, the JP McManus-owned 10-year-old’s career had been on a steady decline until a switch to hunter chasing in January.
Though Minella Rocco may not be the force of old, he has demonstrated with wins at Warwick and most recently at Wetherby – where he beat last year’s Foxhunter winner Hazel Hill – he has the potential for one more big effort at the meeting where he made his name.
O’Neill, who also won the 1979 Gold Cup on Alverton, said: “We were hoping he would run well in handicaps at the start of the season, but he didn’t, and there was always the option to give him the chance of hunter chasing if Plan A didn’t work out, so that is what we have gone with, Plan B, and it seems to have worked.
“They are going a gear or two slower for him in these races and he is jumping brilliantly. He is in a great old form and his wind problems seem fine at the moment.
“You go to the races with him and you are going on a wing and a prayer, thinking how is he going to run, as he has seemed fine at home before and has not performed, but to see him win and get back into the winner’s enclosure at Warwick was great.
“Hopefully we can continue to keep him together for the Foxhunter, just to get him running there is fantastic as it is back where he belongs.”
While O’Neill reports Minella Rocco to be thriving at home
Trainer Jonjo O’Neill on the allure of the famous Festival. ahead of his fourth Festival outing, he is now praying the weather will not curtail his chances of another moment centre stage.
He said: “I hope the ground wouldn’t be too sticky or testing as that wouldn’t help him. It’s OK when you are beating one at Warwick and when your main rival doesn’t turn up at Wetherby, but you have got to have everything go right at Cheltenham.
“If you saw him at home you would be delighted. He loves being in training, especially the way he is looked after as he gets preferential treatment – he is a real yard favourite.
“The old monkey knows he has won two races and he thinks he is quite clever now, but he is an intelligent old horse.”
During a stellar career as both a jockey and now as a trainer, O’Neill has won races that are of far greater prestige, and stature, than the Foxhunter Chase – effectively the Gold Cup for amateur riders.
But all successes count – every jockey and trainer, he says, just hopes to end Festival week with a winner to their name. And O’Neill, long regarded as one of the great gentlemen of racing, added: “Winners at Cheltenham are great, whether it is a Gold Cup or a seller, as it’s what every trainer and jockey is after. He will be flying if he won again and it would do me fine.
“I think there would be a few tears shed by people and I would probably be the first one – it would be a win that stacks right up there with those in the Gold Cup.”
■ Altior, Chacun Pour Soi and Defi Du Seuil remain on course for the Betway Queen Mother Champion Chase.
The Nicky Henderson-trained Altior is bidding to become only the second three-time winner
of the two-mile showpiece after Badsworth Boy racked up a hattrick in the 1980s.
However, despite having suffered just one defeat in 21 starts over jumps, the 10-year-old is unlikely to have things all his own way.
Defi Du Seuil has been the star of the division in Britain so far this term, winning each of his three starts for trainer Philip Hobbs.
The lightly-raced Chacun Pour Soi beat Defi Du Seuil at the Punchestown Festival and is out to provide Willie Mullins with his first Champion Chase success.
Other hopefuls include Lady Buttons for Catterick trainer Phil Kirby.
She is also entered in the Mares’ Hurdle and Grand Annual Chase, with a decision due this weekend on her target.
Winners at Cheltenham are great, whether it is a Gold Cup or a seller.