With an exceptionally impressive display of jumping, Vautour gave Willie Mullins his sixth winner of the Cheltenham Festival so far when taking the JLT Novices’ Chase by 15 lengths.
The six-year-old, owned by Rich Ricci, also took the Sky Bet Supreme Novices’ Hurdle at last year’s Festival.
Mullins said: “I’ve always loved this horse, from the time he won here last year. I just couldn’t get him back [to that form] and I’ve had to really work hard at him for the past three weeks to get him back into that shape today, but that’s probably what he needs – just hard work. I’ve probably been minding him too much all season.
“I made sure he did plenty of work and I don’t like doing that, but he needed it because he wasn’t coming into form and it was a bit ‘do or die’, but he did come right.
“I was just hoping he would get over the last two [fences]. The race is over turning for home and it’s just a question of jumping, and he absolutely flew them. I don’t know what was going through Ruby’s head after Annie Power the other day but I think he just committed and said ‘here we go’, and was bang, bang over the last two.
“He’s definitely a Gold Cup horse.”
Vautour is 7/1 second favourite from 25/1 with sponsors Betfred for next year’s Betfred Cheltenham Gold Cup. Stable companion Don Poli is currently favourite at 6/1.
Ruby Walsh stepped from the back of Vautour in the winner’s enclosure after today’s JLT Novices’ Chase, turned to trainer Willie Mullins and owner Rich Ricci, and exclaimed “Get in!”.
Such a show of elation is rare in the great jockey, but it says much about the Vautour performance, one that followed his win in last year’s Sky Bet Supreme Novices’ Hurdle. Today he annihilated a quality field, winning by 15 lengths and a short-head from Apache Stronghold and Valseur Lido.
Walsh said: “He’s a very, very good horse. When Willie and I talked about plans for this horse last autumn I maintained he wanted a trip – he won the Supreme by purely staying and if we took him to the right distance he would be even better. Today over two and a half miles he jumped like a gazelle and quickened up so impressively off the bend – I would say it was flawless. The horses behind are very good and he ran them ragged. Yes, brilliant.
“The first morning we schooled him over four fences he was almost too good. The next time he went back over them he stood on his head, but he hasn’t made a mistake since then. He’s full of confidence and the hardest job I had was riding him back to the winner’s enclosure. The rest was easy.
“He’s the real deal – I may be wrong but you have to dream. I’ve always loved him and his pedigree would suggest he could get any trip. I stuck my neck out and said this horse is going chasing, so it feels good to have worked out so well.
“He wasn’t right at Christmas and people jumped on the bandwagon and knocked him, but we tipped away and he schooled beautifully at Leopardstown last Saturday week and worked well last Thursday. The trainer got him spot on for this.”
Asked to compare Vautour and Tuesday’s Racing Post Arkle Trophy winner Un De Sceaux, Walsh said: “There will be no match up – one is going up in trip [Vautour] while the other is staying where he is. I’d say Vautour would be a better match up with his other stablemate, Don Poli [who won yesterday’s RSA Chase].
“Late last summer we sat down and talked about plans, and I’m glad it has worked out as I suggested. I can just see Willie Mullins giving me a hard time if it hadn’t and he’d been saying ‘Vautour should have won the Champion Hurdle and Faugheen should have won the JLT’.”