12/1 Road To Respect on course for Gold Cup

Trainer Noel Meade has confirmed stable star Road To Respect is on track for the Cheltenham Gold Cup, despite his recent defeat at Leopardstown (Road to Respect 12/1 – To win  Gold Cup).

The eight-year-old competed in the Irish equivalent of the Gold Cup at the start of February but he was unable to get the job done.

The Willie Mullins-trained Bellshill eventually won the contest at Leopardstown, with Road To Respect beating The Storyteller into second.

Road To Respect finished third on his run before that in the Savills Chase but he did win in November at Down Royal.

Meade’s charge finished fourth in the Gold Cup at Prestbury Park in 2018 and he is confident the chestnut gelding will compete in the big race at The Festival this time around.

He told reporters: “All is good. He came out of the race in good form and we’re happy with him. That (Cheltenham Gold Cup) is the plan. He didn’t jump as well as he can the last day and we’re just putting it down to the fast ground.

“He didn’t seem to want to let himself down on it, but he still ran a good race and there’s obviously very little between him and the winner.

“We’ll just try to get him to Cheltenham in one piece and hope for a better round of jumping and see where it takes us.”

Presenting Percy remains the ante-post favourite for next month’s big race at 11/4, while Native River is 5/1 to win the contest for a second year running.

Odds subject to change.