Stevenson to give McManus a run for his money; IN THE Saddle

SCOTTISH owner David Stevenson would appear to hold one of the strongest hands of aces for the Cheltenham Festival, even if it doesn't yet quite rival that of the Irish punting legend JP McManus, golfing partner of Celtic boss Martin O'Neill in Barbados last week, who added the two-mile champion chaser Flagship Uberalles to a portfolio already numbering First Gold, Baracouda and You'llneverwalkalone.

Running under the banner of Ashleybank Investments, the Stevenson horses continue to build their already lofty reputations ahead of the biggest meeting of the year. The beige, brown-hooped sleeves and orange cap were to the fore again at Ayr on Tuesday when Mr Woodentop made a successful transition to fences for Len Lungo, but it was the performance of the Nicky Richards'-trained Telemoss at Newcastle on Wednesday which confirmed Stevenson's first Cheltenham trump card.

Whatever the achievements so far of the Lungo-trained The Bajan Bandit, Skippers Cleuch and Crazy Horse, last year's Stayers' Hurdle fourth has proved Telemoss has what it takes to compete at the top level over fences, as well as hurdles. He will probably run next at Kempton on February 22 before heading for the Cathcart Chase at the Festival, for which he was available at 12/1 after his Newcastle success.

One of this column's 12 To Follow for this season and already three times a winner, Telemoss, despite connections' softly-softly approach, is a hardened campaigner over hurdles. He is effective from two miles to three miles and according to his trainer, will go over three-and-a-quarter miles next season. Not until the Gold Cup though.

The man who was assistant to his father, Gordon, all through the One Man years, believes he's that good. You have been warned.

ANOTHER man worth listening to is nine-times Irish champion Charlie Swan, who recently rode his 1300th career winner at Navan and was at Musselburgh on Friday to ride three of the horses he also trains near Ballingarry. Having ridden a loser at Down Royal on Wednesday, Swan dropped off at home before catching a ferry to Holyhead, stopped off for the night at Haydock, then headed to Musselburgh on Thursday morning to check ground conditions before declaring his runners.

No winners followed on Friday but when I spoke to Swan about not having Istabraq to look forward to this year for the first time since 1997, he enthused about the Festival chances of Like A Butterfly and Bannow Bay, both of which could run next weekend before heading for the Champion Hurdle and Stayers' Hurdle respectively.

The name which really made his face light up though was Intersky Falcon, the horse Swan picked up a spare ride on to win the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton. "The one they all have to beat," he told me, adding that the horse had "switched into turbo power when challenged after the last. He definitely has what it takes".

And this from the man who rode Istabraq, Montelado, Condor Pan and Danoli, to name but four top class hurdlers.

Swan wouldn't wish any ill on Intersky Falcon's regular rider Liam Cooper, but since McManus is Jonjo O'Neill's principal owner and landlord, he might just let Charlie get off Like A Butterfly if he was offered the mount on the Kempton winner. I suspect he would jump at the chance.

MARTIN Pipe equalled his own record by fielding 10 horses in the one race at Taunton last Thursday, two of his charges finishing first and second at 12/1 and 20/1 and three more filling fourth, fifth and sixth in a 15-runner field. Sadly for Pipe's stable jockey AP McCoy, still chasing 300 winners, he had chosen to ride the fifth-placed Iorana, but despite the jockey riding two other winners on the day, no-one was smiling more than the trainer afterwards.

The winner, Canadiane, was the only one of the 10 which Pipe had yet to pass on to one of his owners at Pond House, so the bulk of the (pounds) 5,167 winning prize money is therefore set to be credited to the account of MC Pipe, owner and trainer, more than enough to cover Pipe's seven-day holiday in Lanzarote, from where he had just returned that morning.

Apart from correctly picking the twice Grand National-placed Blowing Wind from a horde of Pipe entries in the last two runnings of that race, McCoy's record when given the choice of Pipe runners has been woeful over the years. Maybe he should just leave it to Pipe and his assistant Chester Barnes to tell him which one to be on, rather than going with his own judgment. Just think how many winners jump racing's superstar jockey might have ridden!

KEEP the memory fresh and pass it down the generations, for the history books will show that Flat racing's 2002 superstar was nowhere near the top of the class when it came to comparing his exploits with those of his predecessors. The official International Classifications, published last week, showed the horse which broke Mill Reef's 30-year-old record for consecutive wins in Group One races was merely rated the equal of the worst three-year-old champion since ratings began.

Official handicap ratings now show Rock Of Gibraltar was 13lbs inferior to Dancing Brave (1986) and 12lbs inferior to Shergar (1981), both of which made their names at middle distances. More pertinently, perhaps, he's been rated 5lbs inferior to Warning (1988) and Zilzal (1989) and 2lbs inferior to Zafonic (1993) all of which he would probably have picked up and carried inside the final furlong and then beaten cosily without being extended.

And there's the rub. As I warned on December 29, Rock Of Gibraltar's victories had all been recorded with such minimum authority in terms of winning distance that the official assessors were not able to gauge accurately just how good he was. The only time Mick Kinane ever got serious was when the race was already lost at Arlington in the Breeders' Cup.

Because of all those cheeky wins, the handicappers have actually found 3lbs to credit him with which he didn't actually earn, just to save embarrassment. If they hadn't, he would have been the worst champion three-year-old since ratings began. Meaningless in present day terms, but food for thought for the future.

What harm would it have done to have pushed him out just once to see how good he was? Royal Ascot would have been the time to do it. An opportunity lost.

Copyright 2003 SMG Sunday Newspapers Ltd.
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