HE’S the best horse Donald McCain has trained – and he is hoping Peddlers Cross continues to prove at the Cheltenham Festival tomorrow.
The Cholmondeley-based handler takes his biggest team to the Prestbury Park four-day spectacular this week.
But there is no doubt the unbeaten Peddlers Cross is the headline act as he bids to stretch his winning run to nine in the Stan James Champion Hurdle.
And McCain’s faith in the Tim Leslie-owned six-year-old means he is more than hopeful he will celebrating a fifth Festival win for the stable.
McCain said: “He is the best horse I have ever had – it goes without saying. He is my horse, so obviously I am going to be biased – but I can’t see many around better than him.
“I think he is a Champion Hurdle horse. We may well find out he is not a Champion Hurdle horse long term. But he is a hell of a good racehorse.”
Despite the string of victories, it hasn’t all been plain sailing in the run-up to Cheltenham. The weather forcing planned engagements to be missed for most of his string, a slight cough to his stable star was another concern. Then big-race jockey Jason Maguire had to win a appeal over a ban to continue his partnership aboard Peddlers Cross in the Festival’s opening day feature.
But McCain is happy everything is right now as Peddlers Cross returns to the scene of his Grade One success in the Neptune Investment Novices Hurdle last year. He added: “It has not been easy with all the racing off. But we have got runs into them. Whether it is the right places, or the wrong places or where we really wanted to go, we have still got the runs into all them that we needed to.
“Maybe some a couple of weeks later than we wanted, but they have all done enough to get them there ready.
“Jason being on board is a huge plus. We were obviously worried when he got the ban, but everything is okay now. He has been a big factor in Peddlers Cross.
“Everything is grand now. We have had a little hiccup, but we have got it out of the way. I am not feeling nervous. I probably will on the day, but so far everything has been fine.”
The Champion Hurdle has already been billed as the race of the Festival and McCain concurs with that.
