BEATEN DOCKET
Rich Ricci feels the heat over Vautour’s late Ryanair switch
AFTER a morning bristling with indignation among antepost punters, many of whom were left with worthless Gold Cup betting dockets, Rich Ricci put his dark shades on and his foot down.
‘Owners are entitled to change their minds. Nothing’s perfect,’ said the wealthy American.
Nothing is, and the dramatic events which saw first Vautour and then Road To Riches rerouted to the Ryanair Chase tomorrow from the Gold Cup were far from perfect.
Not everyone supported the eleventh-hour switch, especially not those punters peering through their pockets, while Noel Meade, trainer of Road To Riches, clearly lost the Gold Cup argument with the O’Leary brothers.
But it was Ricci who bore the brunt of social media fire, specifically as he had stated Vautour wouldn’t run at Cheltenham at all if he didn’t run in the Gold Cup.
Instead, the seven-year- old will seek a third successive Cheltenham Festival triumph in tomorrow’s Ryanair Chase for which he’s 4/5 favourite — it’s a bit like going to see Espanyol when you could be watching Barcelona.
After breaking the news on ‘The Morning Line’, Ricci downed his combat gear of tweed, trilby and specs, and went on the front foot on Racing UK to explain the late switch.
‘The plan all along was to run in the Gold Cup, up to Sunday night that hadn’t changed,’ he said.
‘But Willie (Mullins) felt he wasn’t the horse at home that he was this time last year so we had a chat on Monday and made the decision to go for the shorter race.
‘If he was 95 per cent, we’d be going for the Gold Cup but he’s not performing the cartwheels of last year so we’re going for the Ryanair.
‘Owners are entitled to change their minds. Nothing’s perfect,’ said Ricci.
Asked about those who had backed Vautour for the Gold Cup, where he was a fancied 5/1 shot, Ricci offered an olive branch.
‘I do feel bad for the punters and my firm, Betbright, are paying up on all Gold Cup single bets on Vautour, as a gesture on our part.
‘I know I said he wouldn’t run at all if he didn’t run in the Gold Cup and I meant that at the time. I wasn’t being misleading. I’ll be careful what I say next time,’ he said.
Mullins was supportive of the late call, and probably instigated it.
‘It (Ryanair Chase) was at the back of my mind all along,’ Mullins said yesterday.
‘We didn’t know if Djakadam would get to run in the Gold Cup because of the 23, 24 stitches he had after his fall here, but we got the right amount of work into him.
‘We had a chat yesterday and felt the Ryanair was the better option for Vautour,’ he said.
Meade, meanwhile, revealed he had extensive ‘ chats’ with Eddie and Michael O’Leary, owners of Road To Riches, which ended with the brothers calling the shots and re-routing last year’s Gold Cup third to their own race.
In the countdown to Cheltenham, Meade explained the O’Learys felt they held a strong Gold Cup hand with Don Cossack and Don Poli, and were keen to support the Ryanair Chase, a race Gigginstown House has yet to win. ‘We spoke after racing at Na as recently, where Michael (O’Leary) said he had four in the Gold Cup and he wanted to support his race,’ said Meade yesterday.
But when word yesterday broke that Vautour was headed for the Ryanair, Meade made an eleventhhour plea to run Road To Riches in Friday’s Blue Riband.
‘I would have preferred to run Road To Riches in the Gold Cup as I felt the better ground gave him a better chance of winning the race,’ said Meade.
‘I felt after the Vautour news this morning that we’d have gone for the Gold Cup. We had a general discussion but the owners felt differently.
‘Everyone knows that you can’t argue with Michael,’ Meade added in an effort to lighten the disappointment he must have been feeling.
In a flurry of post-breakfast calls, Meade first rang Eddie O’Leary and made his case; he then rang Michael, and repeated his preference for last year’s Gold Cup third. Soon after, the call came back from Michael O’Leary that the die had been cast — Road To Riches was Ryanair-bound. End of.
Meade quipped that he f elt he drew the short straw. Ante-post backers of Vautour knew how he felt.