Haydock Could Be A Concern For Lostintranslation

Former Gold Cup and Grand National winning jockey Robbie Power has moved to quell the positive vibes about Samcro after he scored a victory on his Chase debut last Friday.

Samcro Overreaction.
Gordon Elliott’s seven-year-old made no mistake at Down Royal going over fences for the first time, but Power was quick to dampen expectations when he spoke to us on Monday.

He said: “It was a nice performance but it’s the biggest overreaction to a horse winning a Beginners Chase I’ve seen in my time racing. He beat a horse who had won a maiden hurdle at Kilbeggan and the third horse is still a maiden, so he did nothing we didn’t expect him to do.

“All we learned is that he is a good jumper, but does he retain the ability that he had? I don’t think anyone can answer that because even the races he ran last year when he wasn’t right would have won that race at Down Royal.

“It’ll be interesting to see what happens when he steps into deeper waters. There’s talk he’ll go to the Drinmore Novice Chase at Fairyhouse and that’ll be a stiffer test.

To make him favourite for the JLT off the back of that is a joke.

Lostintranslation.
Power also sounded a note of caution on his mount Lostintranslation, who is the 7/1 antepost second favourite for the Gold Cup following an impressive jumping display on route to victory at Carlisle on Sunday.

“He did nothing that we didn’t expect him to do but he jumped unbelievably well and felt really good underneath me. It was a perfect starting point for him over 2½ on soft ground and he’ll improve for the run. It’s all systems go towards Haydock and that’ll tell us more about his Gold Cup credentials.

“If Haydock turns up the way it can do with testing ground, it would be a concern for him because he is such a good mover and definitely a better horse on better ground. But I’m looking forward to him wherever he goes, he’s a really nice horse to look forward to this winter.”

*Prices correct at time of publication