De Bromhead outlining direct Cheltenham course for Gold Cup couple.
For trainer Henry de Bromhead, Minella Indo and A Plus Tard will immediately compete in the Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup.
Each horse is a winner of the race in his own right; Minella Indo won the Grade One contest in 2021 ahead of his stablemate, and the following season, they finished in reverse order.
In November, A Plus Tard failed to make his seasonal debut in the Betfair Chase, and a late mishap ended a planned run in the Savills Chase at Leopardstown.
However, the gelding is fully recovered now and will compete in a Gold Cup title defense in March.
“He seems good. We gave him a full check over and everything seems fine, his joint is good again. It was just a bang,” De Bromhead said.
“We are sort of starting afresh and aiming for March.”
“I think we go straight there, we’ve sort of made that decision now and that’s it.
“He needs to go left-handed and the Irish Gold Cup was our only option really. We’re well able to get him spot on for the day and we’ll just aim for that.”
At Tramore on New Year’s Day, Minella Indo won a Grade Three event by a neck from Stattler, a horse owned by Willie Mullins.
At this point, he will also take a direct route to Cheltenham.
“He seems great, I’m delighted with him. He’s in really good form and we’ll go straight to the Gold Cup with him,” said De Bromhead.
“I was delighted to see him back and everyone saw the reception he got, and we got. It was incredible. It was an emotional day, a really good day.”
Minella Indo is 16-1 with the same company to defend her title, while A Plus Tard is as low as 5-1 with William Hill.
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