The identity of the horse that will carry Tony McCoy into retirement remained unclear on Monday evening, with the sport’s most successful jockey confirmed only as the rider of Mr Mole in the Grade One Celebration Chase on the final day of the 2014-15 season and McCoy’s record-breaking career at Sandown on Saturday.
The only Grade One on Saturday’s card has been renamed in McCoy’s honour but what is expected to be a capacity crowd at the Esher track will also hope to see him ride in the day’s most valuable event, the Bet365 Gold Cup Chase. JP McManus, who has retained McCoy as his principal jockey for the last decade, does not have an entry in the race after the five-day stage on Monday, leaving McCoy and his agent, Dave Roberts, to take their pick from several possibilities.
Roberts was unsure on Monday evening whether McCoy will want to ride in every race on the card, including the final event, a handicap hurdle, in which both Jonjo O’Neill and John Ferguson, the trainers who have used the champion most frequently this season, have possible runners.
McCoy announced his intention to retire after riding Mr Mole to victory at Newbury in February but they finished only eighth of nine starters in the Queen Mother Champion Chase at Cheltenham’s Festival meeting last month.
Potential opponents for Mr Mole on Saturday include Sire De Grugy, the 2014 Champion Chase winner, and Sprinter Sacre, one of the outstanding two-milers the sport has seen but apparently on the decline since suffering a heart problem during a race in December 2013. The popular veteran Somersby, who finished second to Dodging Bullets in this season’s Champion Chase, is also a possible runner this weekend.
“Mr Mole is the only definite one at the moment,” Roberts said. “I haven’t spoken to Tony today but I’ll be speaking to him this evening and then we’ll make a decision and see what’s available.
“In the Bet365 it all depends what the weights do. If the top two [On His Own and Rocky Creek] don’t run, it could make a big difference. Nothing has been arranged as yet and I should know more tomorrow.”
This year’s renewal of the Bet365 Gold Cup, still more familiar to some racegoers in its former guise as the Whitbread Gold Cup, could be one of the most competitive for many seasons, with bookmakers offering 10-1 the field at best prices following Monday’s declarations.
Le Reve, who was ridden by Leighton Aspell, the winner of the last two Grand Nationals, on two of his last three starts, is the early ante-post favourite, having finished second to Rocky Creek in the BetBright Chase at Kempton in February. Paint The Clouds, third home in the Foxhunter Chase at the Cheltenham Festival, is next in the betting at 12-1, with the 12-year-old The Package, the winner of the Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Handicap Chase at the Festival, available at 14-1. It is then 16-1 bar three, a price that includes Bobs Worth, the 2013 Cheltenham Gold Cup winner and another possible ride for McCoy in the absence of Barry Geraghty, his regular jockey, through injury.
Rocky Creek, who finished only 17th of 19 finishers when second-favourite for the Grand National, was described as “50-50” for the race by Paul Nicholls, his trainer, on Monday. Nicholls, who has won the race three times in the past, also has Unioniste, Wonderful Charm and Just A Par among the remaining entries.
Hootenanny and Sunset Glow, both potential runners for American trainer Wesley Ward in the first Classics of the season at Newmarket in early May, will miss the 2,000 Guineas and 1,000 Guineas respectively to be prepared instead for a new Group One sprint at Royal Ascot in June.
Hootenanny was successful in the Windsor Castle Stakes at the Royal meeting in 2014 while Sunset Glow finished second to the subsequent Group One winner Cursory Glance in the Albany Stakes.
“It’s just the races at Newmarket are a bit too close to their last run,” Ward said on Monday. “If Sunset Glow [who finished third at Keeneland on 12 April] had won her race, then the Guineas would have been something we’d look at, but unfortunately she got beat.
“He [Hootenanny] loves the course [at Ascot]. I like to run sprinters fresh in their races and I think he can go right from his last race here [on 18 April] and just tear the barn down and be ready to roll.
“I just hope my jockey [Frankie Dettori] is free and not needed by Sheikh Joann al-Thani [who retains Dettori to ride for his Al Shaqab Racing operation].”
