Horse Racing: Supreme Enters Cup Picture

Not for the first time, Beef Or Salmon disappointed his backers in the Hennessy Gold Cup here yesterday, but as his challenge for the Cheltenham Gold Cup took one step back, another Irish contender emerged in the shape of Rule Supreme to keep the home crowd happy and expectant.

Before he can start to gather in Ireland's betting money, though, Rule Supreme will need to be pointed towards the Gold Cup on March 18, rather than the World Hurdle - formerly the Stayers' - the previous afternoon. All went smoothly for him yesterday, with no serious jumping errors in his round. But as anyone who has ever backed him can testify, this tends to be the exception rather than the rule.

In the Lexus Chase here at Christmas, for instance, Rule Supreme fell at the last when challenging Best Mate for second place behind Beef Or Salmon, and his victory in last year's Royal & SunAlliance Chase included several errors which, on another day, could have put him on the floor.

So while the form of his 14-length defeat of Beef Or Salmon yesterday would normally lead inexorably to the Gold Cup, Willie Mullins, his trainer, has yet to be convinced. "He has a huge engine, but jumping is just not his forte, though he didn't do much wrong today, and if David [Casey, his jockey] sticks with him he'll get him round most tracks," Mullins said.

"I'd love to go for the Gold Cup, and I've always said that if you have a horse with even half a chance of winning the Gold Cup then you should go for it, but perhaps I'm going to have to eat my own words.

"He'll love the extra trip there and he's won around the track. The ground doesn't seem to make a difference to him and David said that he jumps better on better ground, but the others would probably just jump a bit faster than him and that would be my worry."

Mullins will consult Rule Supreme's owners before any decision is made, and will probably wait until the last possible moment before committing his horse to a Festival target. Rule Supreme is an 8-1 chance for the Gold Cup with the Tote, while Beef Or Salmon is out to 8-1 (from 11-2) with the same firm. Their odds compiler has also decided to ease Best Mate to 11-4 favourite from 5-2, and cut Kingscliff to 6-1 from 7-1.

Beef Or Salmon was examined by the racecourse vet after yesterday's race, and found to be suffering from "an infection of the upper respiratory tract". In the circumstances, then, it could be argued that he did well to be alongside Rule Supreme jumping the last, while he was also hampered slightly when Pizarro took a crashing fall five out.

An alternative view, though, is that he is a horse who promises so much but rarely runs two good races in a row. His defeat of Best Mate at the Christmas meeting was arguably the performance of his career, but overall there is little pattern to his form. None the less, Michael Hourigan, his trainer, will still send him to Cheltenham for the Gold Cup if he recovers from whatever is ailing him. And if no-one can be entirely sure which Beef Or Salmon will turn up, it will at least add another fascinating imponderable to an intriguing contest. And given the way he jumps, the same could be said of Rule Supreme.