Daryl Jacob to maintain Bristol De Mai partnership in Cotswold Chase

Daryl Jacob will maintain his successful partnership with Bristol De Mai, flagship horse of owners Simon Munir and Isaac Souede, when the triple Grade 1 hero puts his Timico Cheltenham Gold Cup credentials on the line in Saturday’s £100,000 Betbright Trial Cotswold Chase.

It was thought earlier in the week that Jacob might go to Doncaster to ride Sceau Royal, but that will not be the case, and he will instead be aboard Bristol De Mai, a rampant 57-length winner of the Grade 1 Betfair Chase on his penultimate start, as well as the pair's Wholestone in the Cleeve Hurdle at Cheltenham.

“The Cotswold is the flagship race of the day, worth £100,000, and we’re sending our flagship horse to run in it,” said Anthony Bromley, racing manager for Munir and Souede. “Daryl rides Bristol De Mai and then Wholestone in the Cleeve."

Bristol De Mai has yet to win in two starts at Cheltenham, but they were both in Grade 1 company at the festival.

“I’d love to see Bristol De Mai bounce back on Saturday,” Bromley added. “He has been placed in a JLT and was in with a shout of fourth in the Gold Cup last year after a troubled preparation before he made that mistake at the last.

“His performance on Saturday will give us a route map for the rest of the season. If he went and won all routes would lead to the Gold Cup. Let’s hope we see the real Bristol De Mai at Cheltenham.”

But Bromley believes Bristol De Mai, a top-priced 6-4 favourite for the Grade 2 Cotswold after failing to fire in Kempton’s King George VI Chase on his latest start, will drift as the race gets nearer.

“I think he’s priced as if he didn’t run in the King George,” Bromley said on Wednesday. “I am surprised he is so short. There are good horses in there against him.

“I opened my Racing Post Weekender this morning and saw that every single tipster had gone for a different horse in the race.

“It’s more open than the betting suggests. I think he’ll drift a bit.”

Bristol De Mai’s opponents will include Definitly Red, generally a 6-1 shot with the bookmakers.

Brian Ellison’s nine-year-old also holds an entry in the Sky Bet Handicap Chase at Doncaster, but his trainer said: “The plan is to go to Cheltenham. It’s a good trial for the Gold Cup, and we’ll see if he’s good enough.”

Definitly Red arrives on the back of a fluent seven-length victory over Cloudy Dream at Aintree last month, and Ellison added: “I thought he was impressive last time, and goes to Cheltenham in great form.

“If he doesn’t go for the Gold Cup we’ll divert to Aintree for either the Bowl or the Grand National again.”

L'Ami set for return over fences

While the Nigel Twiston-Davies-trained Bristol De Mai may be the biggest name in action for Munir and Souede at the weekend, he is by no means the only one. Their L’Ami Serge is set to run in the Crest Nicholson Handicap Chase at Cheltenham or Doncaster’s Sky Bet, for which he is a clear 5-1 favourite, and Sceau Royal bound for the Lightning Novices’ Chase on Town Moor.

The Munir/Souede combination have won with 23 of their 70 runners this season, and punters backing them all to a £1 level stake would be £17.35 in profit.

L’Ami Serge, who reverts to fences this weekend after a stint over hurdles which most recently saw him finish runner-up in the Grade 1 Long Walk Hurdle at Ascot, has always looked the type to thrive as a chaser.

His mark is 7lb lower over fences than hurdles, and Bromley said: “We’ll see what happens with the weather before deciding whether to run L’Ami Serge at Cheltenham or Doncaster.

“I’d say it’s 50-50 at the moment. Nothing is set in stone, but he’ll definitely run in one of them. The Sky Bet is an £80,000 race while the one at Cheltenham is a £75,000 race. There’s not a hurdle race around of that same value, and he has schooled particularly well over the last two weeks over fences.

“He’s 17 hands, and a real steeplechaser to look at. We’re quite excited by the prospect of seeing him back over fences this weekend.

“He’s much more relaxed now, and will probably still go for the Stayers’ Hurdle afterwards.”

L'Ami Serge: is set to revert to fences this weekendCredit: Alan Crowhurst

Sceau Royal, who made such a favourable impression on his latest start when landing the Grade 1 Henry VIII Novices’ Chase at Sandown by 11 lengths from North Hill Harvey, will be ridden by Wayne Hutchinson in Doncaster’s Grade 2 Lightning Novices’ Chase.

“Wayne has ridden him earlier in his career, and knows the horse well,” Bromley said.

Members can read the latest exclusive interviews, news analysis and comment available from 6pm daily on racingpost.com