Cheltenham Countdown: Donald McCain Media Day

Will Donald's Peddlers Cross silence the doubters?

For the last of his Cheltenham Festival media day reports, Timeform Chief Correspondent Jamie Lynch visited the stable of Donald McCain. What did he learn? Find out here.

Letting the horses do the talking. That's a fine sentiment, and one I've heard several times during my three-day stint as a roving reporter at the powerhouses of Pipe, Nicholls and now McCain, but it's not ideal for these events, effectively a team press conference, where horses struggle to talk for themselves.

The trainers become translators, speaking on their behalf, and sometimes, not altogether unreasonably (take note, Arsene), they're asked about rival horses in rival yards. A straight, demure bat is the usual response. I say usual...

'I've not seen anything over hurdles that can beat him.' That was McCain's refreshingly frank assessment of Hurricane Fly, not that he's conceding defeat yet with Cinders And Ashes, who he's adamant will, away from testing ground, prove a different proposition, or an older proposition, the proposition who beat Darlan in the Supreme at last year's Festival.

'The form is there. I know he's won on heavy but beating average novices on deep ground is different to what he did that day at Cheltenham. You could see at Kempton last time that he went to pick up but couldn't get his legs out of the ground; even at home now he seems much sweeter and happier with the gallops drying up.'

McCain's assurance that 'you'll see a completely different horse in two weeks' time' also comes from a confidence in Cinders And Ashes being the right type for the Champion, arguably more so than his pair who finished second in the race. 'Those two lads (Peddlers Cross - runner-up to Hurricane Fly - and Overturn) needed to be ridden "eyeballs-out" from a long way out to make it a real test, whereas this lad has got more tactical speed.'

Tactical speed could well be crucial in a Champion Hurdle with no Overturn nor any other natural front-runner, something McCain is well aware, pointing to Cinders And Ashes' sit-and-pounce style as a particular asset for this year's renewal and putting him in with 'a massive each-way chance'.

While McCain was happy to swing at the Hurricane Fly question, he played a classic, guarded forward defensive when it came to Simonsig, albeit admitting to being on his 'best behaviour' in doing so. It's surprising McCain could even get out an 'he's alright' in reference to Simonsig, so firmly was his tongue in his cheek. 'Yes, he's been impressive, but he hasn't finished second in a Champion Hurdle,' bringing up Overturn's superior hurdles form.

In one of if not the biggest match-ups of Cheltenham week, in the Arkle, Overturn is something of the working-class hero against the aristocratic Simonsig, and McCain is adamant that, far from setting the race up for Simonsig, Overturn's forcing style will in fact make it very difficult for him. 'He's taken to chasing better than we could have hoped, everything has gone very smoothly, and we aren't going to have to change anything for Cheltenham. If he goes there and jumps well (touch wood) and gallops like he can (touch wood), then we know he's a very hard horse to get past, and Simonsig hasn't been fully tested in that way yet over fences.'

'At this stage I'm really looking forward to it....at this stage, anyway.'

It was as clear as the Cheshire sky that McCain doesn't want Overturn to win for McCain's sake, he wants Overturn to win for Overturn's sake, and you could hear the paternal compound of pride and anxiety in his voice.

Hearing and listening, often with an ear for the nuances as much as the words themselves, is the primary reason for coming to these days, but sometimes it pays to look too, and you couldn't help but look when Diamond King was presented; a horse who shouts 'look at me'.

'We've never been hard on him at home, so we didn't know exactly what we had, but he was so impressive at Wetherby that we have to seriously consider going for the Champion Bumper now.'

The fact he went off 2/1 favourite at Wetherby, where he won by 16 lengths, suggests McCain did have some idea of what he had, but he stressed Diamond King has been brought along with jumping alone in mind - 'he could run over hurdles tomorrow he's done so much schooling' -  and that Cheltenham this year was never the intention... until that spectacular debut, for which Timeform rate him 112: Cinders And Ashes ran to 104 when he was fifth in the 2011 Champion Bumper.

However, McCain emphasised that he was 'undecided' whether Diamond King will be set the Cheltenham assignment so soon, and he's likewise undecided regards Super Duty, but only about the race he'll target, as his ticket for Cheltenham was booked a good while in advance.

'For a long time I was just concentrating on the Kim Muir for Super Duty, but I'm increasingly tempted to run him in the RSA.' You get the impression that this is a dilemma with a positive undercurrent, in that belief in Super Duty is growing as Cheltenham nears, and we're kind of back to the Cinders And Ashes argument again in terms of a heavy-ground winner who doesn't actually want heavy ground: 'The only time this horse has had his conditions, apart from in his bumper days, was at Aintree last year (15 lengths second to Simonsig in the Grade 2 hurdle), when a blunder at the second last stopped him finishing even closer. You'll see a big improvement in him if things dry up.'

If Super Duty had an advanced ticket for Cheltenham bought for him, Our Mick's was a super-advanced, dating back to the 2012 Festival when he finished third, as a novice, in the JLT Speciality Handicap Chase. Keeping him fresh has been the plan, and the only hard part was persuading the owner, by the sound of it, but there was encouragement, and plenty of it, in his reappearance at Cheltenham in January.

'He was upsides Katenko when Jason decided to jump off him!' That was three out, but the silver lining overshadowed the cloud, and, as McCain pointed out, if it had been a fence later then the handicapper could have put him up. Significantly, later on in the morning, Our Mick was revisited when the inevitable 'best chance?' question arose. I, like most self-respecting reporters, never really want to ask the 'best chance?' question, for fear of spiel at best and wrath at worst, but we're all ready, pen in one hand, betting slip in the other, for the answer.

'No doubt you'll all have your own ideas about the next horse,' said McCain with a hint of irony. And he's right. Most people do, and most people, myself included, are doubters nowadays, but McCain has faith that Peddlers Cross is armed with a silencer. 'His work is the same now as ever; he's the best work horse I've ever had or ever seen. He's still some tool.'

McCain and Maguire, a mighty double act, didn't chime for once in the aftermath of Musselburgh, with McCain admitting to being underwhelmed but Maguire proclaiming to be overjoyed, at least in terms of a stepping stone to the World Hurdle, a winnable World Hurdle this year.

Mine has been a simple brief in these media days: to find out, by hook or by crook, by flattery or bribery, what trainers know, because if anybody knows they do. McCain knows what Peddlers Cross will do at Cheltenham.

'I know he's ready for the race.'
Yeah...
'And I know he'll be travelling sweetly coming to the second last.'
Yeah... 
'And then, who knows?'

Exactly right, Mr McCain. That's the moral of the story, and the lesson to be learned from scurrying around some of the top stables in the country. As much as we want to know what's thriving, what's well handicapped, and what's going to win, no-one knows, not even the trainers, until we get there, and therein lies the very beauty and captivity of Cheltenham.

The trainers have done their talking. From the 12th March, the horses will indeed speak for themselves.  

You can now follow Jamie on Twitter - @LynchyJM