JP McManus horse given sole Cheltenham Festival entry as Gold Cup tilt ruled out
Connections have opted against running him in the Gold Cup
JP McManus has opted against running Spillane’s Tower in the Boodles Gold Cup at the Cheltenham Festival. The Ryanair Chase is now the sole option at the meeting for the seven-year-old.
Having rounded off his novice season over fences with successive Grade One victories, Jimmy Mangan’s charge made a fine start in open company when narrowly denied by fellow McManus-owned rising star Fact To File in the John Durkan over an extended two miles and three furlongs at Punchestown.
While Fact To File went on to finish second to his dual Gold Cup-winning stablemate Galopin Des Champs in the Savills Chase at Leopardstown, Spillane’s Tower travelled to Kempton Park for the King George, finishing a slightly disappointing fifth after being sent off the 11-4 favourite.
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While Mangan has not given up hope of Spillane’s Tower developing into a Gold Cup contender in the future, he feels this year’s renewal will come a year too soon.
“We felt he mightn’t just be up to the Gold Cup distance for another year,” he said.
“He’s only just turned seven, so he’s only a young horse and the three-mile-two might just take too much out of him for down the road.”
Mangan has yet to make any firm plans for his stable star, although a possible clash with Galopin Des Champs in the Irish Gold Cup at Leopardstown next month is not out of the question.
He added: “We haven’t really made any plans. The Kempton race took a bit out of him, maybe he’ll go to the Leopardstown Festival, but we’ll see.”
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