Nicholls to decide on Cup jockey

Lydia Hislop13 April 2012

Ad Hoc is primed and ready to justify his hype in Saturday's Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup if good enough, his trainer Paul Nicholls said today.

But his likely jockey booking for the big Newbury steeplechase remains unknown.

The six-year-old is widely billed as joint favourite with Kingsmark to land the £90,000 event but Robert Ogden, who owns both horses and live 16-1 shot Marlborough, remains undecided on the final format of his squad.

The Ogden plans were thrown into disarray earlier this week when it emerged that Mick Fitzgerald would not be fit to ride Marlborough, despite his earlier confidence that a shoulder injury would mend in time. Now, only Kingsmark - ridden by jockey-of-the-moment, conditional David Dennis - is a certain starter at this stage.

Although Timmy Murphy schooled Ad Hoc this morning and was called up by Ogden to partner Fadalko in last Saturday's Peterborough Chase, he is by no means the certain rider. Norman Williamson remains in the equation for both Ad Hoc and Marlborough, having ridden the latter in work at Kempton eight days ago.

Nicholls admitted that whoever rides Ad Hoc will be partnering him on his first big test. While not entered for Kempton's King George VI Chase on Boxing Day, the gelding is highly regarded despite falling when coming to win his seasonal debut at Wincanton earlier this month. The race was won by King's Road, a rival at Newbury.

"Everybody may have over-hyped this horse," admitted Nicholls. "He's gone up 22 pounds since winning a novice chase at Ayr and hasn't completed a race since. He's nice to have in the yard, but how good is he? Let's see him do something on Saturday. He's schooled well since his fall - we're all entitled to a mistake once."

Ad Hoc and Marlborough would both be doubtful runners, along with the Henrietta Knight-trained Lord Noelie, if the ground at Newbury becomes any softer. But track spokesman Richard Osgood stressed that officially soft going is the worst possible scenario.

Carl Llewellyn will decide tonight which of Nigel Twiston-Davies's horses he will ride in the Hennessy. The jockey worked both Beau and King's Road this morning and will base his choice on the result of routine blood tests and his trainer's advice.

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