Racing: Pride restored as heavyweight contender

Dorans Pride yesterday re-established himself as Ireland's chief hope for the Gold Cup.

Dorans Pride earned a place on the Cheltenham billboard by the side of See More Business yesterday with a commanding success in the Hennessy Gold Cup at Leopardstown. Ladbrokes are unable to separate the Irish horse and Paul Nicholls's chaser and bracket them at 4-1 to collect the most prestigious prize in the jumps calendar.

There will, though, be those unable to consider that yesterday's was a persuasive championship performance. Dorans Pride had two 50-1 shots in Dun Belle and Anabatic in the frame as his great rival and race favourite Imperial Call was pulled up lame. In addition, Dorans Pride was not fluidity itself for a significant part of the race. A recent defeat appeared to be flickering through his mind.

"Naas left its mark and it took him a while to get his confidence today," Richard Dunwoody reported. "But once he did he jumped very well. Michael [Hourigan, the winning trainer] has done well to bring him back.

"Now we can forget last time and I am looking forward to Cheltenham. I wouldn't swap him for anything else and would love to win another Gold Cup because it's 10 years since the last one. People will question the form but we couldn't do any more than win by 15 lengths. I kept him up to his work, but I was not getting to the bottom of him. There was a bit left in the locker."

Hourigan added: "I was baffled after Naas but couldn't find anything wrong with him. He wouldn't have won a point-to-point that day. I was so worried and still was right up to today, but I know there is still lots to come. The score between him and Imperial Call is 3-0 now. It's 2-0 with See More Business."

Fergie Sutherland, Imperial Call's trainer, had ventured that the nine- year-old was in the best form since he won the Gold Cup two years ago and his assessment looked to have some substance in the early jousting as Imperial Call sailed over the fences. Dorans Pride though was looking uneasy, hesitating at his obstacles and then giving them the sort of air which suggested he could see broken glass stuck in the top of the hedges.

As the race progressed, the roles were reversed. The rust was shaken from Dorans Pride's chassis, while Imperial Call capitulated so suddenly and gravely after the third last that it is tempting to believe he will never be the same horse he was that crisp March day in 1996. "I was not happy from a long way out and something must be niggling him," Conor O'Dwyer said.

Dorans Pride, though, will not have to carry the anvil in his weightcloth of being the Irish banker of the Festival meeting. That distinction will belong to Florida Pearl, who has jumped racecourse obstacles just twice yet is a 5-4 chance with William Hill for the Royal & SunAlliance Chase. The monstrous gelding is 20-1 at biggest (with Ladbrokes) for next year's Gold Cup.

Willie Mullins, Florida Pearl's trainer, has hardly turned a firehose on the raging hype surrounding his horse. He speculates that the six-year- old is hard to weigh up in comparison with Arkle but is almost certainly better than Dawn Run.

Mullins was a little less extravagant after yesterday's Leopardstown success, probably because Boss Doyle, the tenacious runner-up, was giving away 7lb. "Maybe he didn't look impressive, but Boss Doyle is a hell of a horse and when he gets better ground and a faster pace we can race him with more confidence," he said. "We didn't want a slogging match and I thought Florida Pearl was spectacular at the second and third last."

Florida Pearl's victory ignited a big-race double for Dunwoody, who has made a lucrative business of returning to his native land. "The ground was very sticky but the more we took the other one on the better he was," the jockey reported. The old jockey is not at his worst himself.