Roc is Pauling’s Pic for Festival success

Ben Pauling has nominated Pic Roc as one of his best chances of success as he begins to finalise his plans for next month’s Cheltenham Festival.

The Naunton Downs handler has enjoyed four winners at the sport’s showpiece meeting since commencing his training career 11 years ago, most recently striking gold with the Harry Redknapp-owned Shakem Up’arry in the TrustATrader Plate last season.

The absence of his currently sidelined stable star The Jukebox Man is a major blow to the trainer’s hopes of adding to his Festival tally in mid-March, but he is pleased with the small but select team he has assembled with less than three weeks to go.

Pauling said: “We’ll turn up with six or 10. I don’t know what we’ll turn up with, but we’re dealing with nice horses which are probably going to be 20-1 or 25-1 shots, maybe one or two might be a bit shorter on the day.

“But they’re in good order and we’ve found a winner or two among that sort of pool of horses before, so hopefully we can do the same again.

“We’ll probably be as strong, if not stronger, at Aintree really, that’s just the way it’s been this year and they are ridiculously close. I’m not even attempting to run horses at both, it’s not going to happen, so I’ve divided them up, they’ll go to their respective meetings and we’ll see how we go.”

The pick of Pauling’s Festival-bound hurdlers could be No Questions Asked, who has options in novice events and handicaps, while hopes appear high for Henry’s Friend and Pic Roc over fences.

Henry’s Friend impressed when winning the Mandarin Handicap Chase at Newbury over the Christmas period and while he has the option of reverting to the smaller obstacles for the Pertemps Final, he looks set to stick to the larger obstacles at Cheltenham.

Pic Roc is yet to strike in three chase starts, but Pauling feels he is capable of raising his game in the Cotswolds.

“I think Henry’s Friend will almost certainly go for the Ultima (Handicap Chase) and he’s in very good order. I’m very, very pleased with him and I’m equally happy with Pic Roc – he would almost be my nap of the week for a big run,” the trainer added.

“The thing with Pic Roc is he’s just finding his feet and although he hasn’t won this season, he’s run two very good races in defeat and I know we can have him better at Cheltenham.

“He is in especially good form and he’s in the two-and-a-half (Jack Richards Novices’ Handicap Chase) and the three-and-a-half-mile (National Hunt Chase) novice handicaps, so we’ll see which way we go.”

Last year’s hero Shakem Up’arry also holds multiple engagements, but could sidestep the Festival entirely in favour of a trip to Aintree.

Pauling said: “If Shakem Up’arry runs (at Cheltenham) he’ll probably go for the Plate again, I think. He’s come out of his last run at Warwick very well and he hasn’t been in this sort of form all season, but if I’m brutally honest I’d love another run with him.

“I just feel if we could get another run in before Cheltenham, which obviously we won’t, he’d probably come alive for it. He’s certainly improved for Warwick.

“The other option is to leave him for Aintree and if he didn’t get in the Grand National, he’d go back for the Topham. I know he didn’t run brilliantly in it last year, but I think that was due to the fact he left his race at Cheltenham.”