Credit due as Cape Tribulation looks towards making Gold Cup challenge

But the softly-spoken Ryedale trainer is also pragmatic about the chaser’s prospects after his gallant nine-year-old mugged 2010 Gold Cup hero Imperial Commander on the line to win a dramatic Argento Chase – one of the last major trials for steeplechasing’s celebrated race.

“A place in the Gold Cup will be worth every bit as much as a win in a big handicap,” Jefferson told the Yorkshire Post after reporting that Cape Tribulation had shown no ill-effects after this stamina-sapping slog in cloying ground.

“There are some good horses in this year’s Gold Cup, but it’s not certain that they stay beyond three miles on heavy ground. They’re more two-and-a-half milers. Even if it is good ground, the race is over three-and-a-quarter miles.

“There’s a chance Cape Tribulation could be staying on up the hill and run into a place. I’m not thinking that we can go there and win it – but I do believe that we can run with credit.

“This horse has got a lot of guts and he’s a very good horse on his day. He’ll have a quiet week or two now, then we will go straight to Cheltenham.”

Cape Tribulation is clearly suited by Cheltenham’s undulations despite his underdog status; he won the Pertemps Final at last year’s Festival before winning a major handicap hurdle at Aintree.

His current campaign began with a heroic second on the Flat at York in October before finishing fifth to Tidal Bay in the John Smith’s Hurdle at Wetherby, with Jefferson happy to admit that he made a mess of the tactics.

Too high in the handicap to continue hurdling as a realistic contender in the major races, victory in Wetherby’s Rowland Meyrick Chase on Boxing Day confirmed that the horse was approaching his best – and this was re-enforced when he collared Imperial Commander on the line while conceding 6lb to the Nigel Twiston-Davies-trained veteran, who was returning to the track after a 680-day lay-off.

With Grands Crus among several high-profile horses to pull up – there was something clearly amiss with the grey who underwent a wind op last November – Denis O’Regan produced a masterful ride as he nursed Cape Tribulation into the race.

Though his momentum was checked by a jumping error at the second last, it became inevitable that Cape Tribulation would wear down the leader, though Imperial Commander – it should be noted – lost nothing in defeat.

“He has been a great horse for me and I’m chuffed to bits to be riding him,” said O’Regan.

“Imperial Commander seemed to be bounding along with enthusiasm and I pulled out to follow him.

“My horse made a mistake, but thankfully I had enough in reserve.”

Cape Tribulation will not be a forlorn hope in the Gold Cup, unheralded horses like Mr Mulligan, Looks Like Trouble, Cool Dawn and Synchronised 12 months ago have all prevailed.

There was no shortage of confidence behind Cape Tribulation – he had been tipped beforehand by 17-time champion AP McCoy, who was among the first to congratulate Jefferson.

“He tapped me on the back and said ‘well done’ – and he’s never had a ride for us in his life,” said Jefferson.

This was a day in which McCoy had wasted down to 10st 3lb so he could ride Mr Watson to victory in the finale.

That came just 35 minutes after he had ridden At Fishers Cross to a memorable win over The New One in a key trial for the Neptune Investment Hurdle at the National Hunt Festival.

And while Venetia Williams continued her resurgence when Katenko jumped into Gold Cup contention with a pleasing win under Aidan Coleman, the abiding memory from the day was the scintillating jumping of Sprinter Sacre.

Once again, he showed why he has been dubbed the ‘Frankel of the jumps’ after he turned the Victor Chandler Chase into a procession with his flamboyant jumping.

Not for the first time, Nicky Henderson’s superstar was electric at his fences, taking it up on the run to the sixth-last, after Mad Moose had opened a sizeable early advantage on the field.

Barry Geraghty quickened matters noticeably going to three out and the threat from Sanctuaire was a fleeting one.

Henderson admitted: “I’m glad it’s over. Barry was worried about the ground, I was worried he was a bit fresh.

“He can handle any ground, I think, and that’s what a good horse should be able to do. Barry’s confidence in him is unbelievable. He knows you can jump anything with him. He knows he is special and I suppose we are all starting to believe he might be.”

Sprinter Sacre will head straight for the Queen Mother Champion Chase in March and is 1-3 favourite with Ladbrokes.

Henderson said: “It is a shame to be going to Cheltenham as his third run of the season, but that’s the sort of season it’s been.”

Victory bodes well for Fly’s hurdle hope

WILLIE Mullins hailed Hurricane Fly as being back to his very best as he recorded his third successive win in the BHP Irish Champion Hurdle at Leopardstown.

The nine-year-old never came off the bridle in registering his 14th Grade One success, setting himself up perfectly for his bid to become the first horse since Comedy Of Errors in 1975 to regain the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham.

Stablemate Thousand Stars made it a decent gallop in atrocious conditions, but when Ruby Walsh made his move rounding the home turn, the result was never in doubt.

Binocular travelled well for a long way but was soon left in Hurricane Fly’s wake and Nicky Henderson’s 2010 champion just failed to get past Thousand Stars for second.

“He’s well used to these conditions and he flies through that ground so everything went according to plan,” said Mullins whose exciting novice hurdler Pont Alexandre is also Cheltenham-bound after an impressive win.

“It was a tip-top race. Binocular has won a Champion Hurdle, Thousand Stars has won two French Champion Hurdles and Captain Cee Bee won a Supreme. Everything had gone 100 per cent in his preparation. Ruby said he’s as good as he ever saw him.”

Meanwhile, waterlogging could wash out many of this week’s NH fixtures following the thaw. Today’s Plumpton card and tomorrow’s meeting at Taunton are the first casualties.

Ahead of Saturday’s Towton Novices Chase, Wetherby is waterlogged, although clerk Jonjo Sanderson tweeted that the West Yorkshire track did drain quickly prior to its two-day Christmas meeting which beat the weather.