JP McManus’s new purchase Corbetts Cross just ‘50-50′ to line up at Cheltenham

The JP McManus team has described their new purchase Corbetts Cross as just “50-50″ to take his chance at next week’s Cheltenham festival.

The Emmet Mullins-trained star was snapped up by the festival’s most successful ever owner after winning at Naas over a week ago and trades as a general 7-2 favourite for the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle on the final day of Cheltenham.

However, Corbetts Cross appears far from certain to make the trip to Prestbury Park.

“It’s up in the air whether he goes or doesn’t go. He had a hard enough race in Naas the last day. We’ll see how he is. I’d say it’s a 50-50 job,” McManus’s racing manager Frank Berry said on Monday.

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Corbetts Cross impressed in dropping back to two miles and landing the Grade Two Johnstown Hurdle on his first start for Mullins, after which he was sold by previous owner Paul Byrne.

One leading light that won’t be making the trip to Cheltenham is Fakir D’Oudairies, who instead will try to do what he did a year ago by bypassing the festival and trying to score instead at Aintree.

The Joseph O’Brien-trained runner started favourite last month to repeat his 2022 Ascot Chase success but failed to fire when a distant third to Shishkin.

Runner-up to Allaho in the 2021 Ryanair, Fakir D’oudairies will again skip the festival and concentrate on Aintree’s Grade One Marsh Chase.

“I’d say he’ll wait for Liverpool. The one thing you could put it [Ascot Chase run] down to was that the ground might have been a bit lively for him. He never really travelled. That’s the only thing we could really come up with. He came back fine,” said Berry.

Instead, Janidil will fly the McManus flag in next week’s Ryanair after his successful return to action in Gowran’s Red Mills Chase last month.

McManus, who turns 72 on Friday, has had 69 festival successes in all including the Gold Cup with Synchronised in 2012 and a record nine victories in the Champion Hurdle.

The single glaring gap on his festival CV though remains the Queen Mother Champion Chase.

Gentleman De Mee put himself in the mix to put that right at the Dublin Racing Festival and is a general 9-1 shot to emerge on top in the two-mile championship.

Defi Du Seuil started a 2-5 favourite to win the Champion Chase for McManus in 2020 but flopped in fourth behind Politologue.

“We haven’t had that many fancied ones in it over the years but it’s one that’s out there to be won,” Berry said.

“He put up a good performance at Leopardstown. Whether he’s up to this is another day’s work but they’re quite happy with him since the last race. The ground should suit,” he added.

McManus’s huge festival team also includes leading hopes such as Jonbon (Arkle) and Teako (Boodles Hurdle) on day one, while another recent purchase, A Dream To Share, is among the leading Champion Bumper fancies.

Capodanno ran behind Janidil on his first start of the season and remains among the Boodles Gold Cup entries.

“He’s a 50-50 job the same as the other horse. We were reasonably happy with him at Gowran. He was a long time off and he was carrying penalties and everything. I’m not sure where he goes. He could wait for the National at Liverpool. It’s just up in the air with him,” Berry commented.

McManus is a short as 4-9 to be the festival’s leading owner once again, ahead of the ‘Double Green’ team of Simon Munir and Isaac Souede.

Mark Walsh, No 1 rider to the McManus team in Ireland, hasn’t ridden since taking a heavy fall on day two of the Dublin Racing Festival over a month ago.

He damaged vertebrae in that spill which came shortly after returning from a spell on the sidelines having injured his ribs during the Christmas festival action.

A return to action in time for the most important week on the jump racing calendar hasn’t been ruled out.

One leading Irish jockey already ruled out of Cheltenham is Jack Kennedy who continues to recover from a broken leg sustained at Naas in January.