SIR ALEX FERGUSON’S ‘maddest horse ever’ is being backed for Cheltenham Festival glory.
Money is coming for defending Ryanair champ Protektorat – as it was all but confirmed superstar French chaser and King George runner-up Il Est Francais would target the same Grade 1.
Manchester United legend Sir Alex will head to Cheltenham with a decent book of chances this year.
He fired in two winners on one magical afternoon 12 months ago.
And it looks like Protektorat will form one part of a decent Sir Alex double, with L’Eau Du Sud second-fav for the Arkle on Tuesday.
The money for Protektorat – who jockey Harry Skelton called ‘the maddest horse I have ever ridden’ – could be telling in a red-hot Ryanair.
The ten-year-old is as big as 6-1 with some but has been backed into 9-2 from 6s with other firms.
While L’Eau Du Sud, the brilliant two-mile novice chaser also trained by Harry’s brother Dan, is a general 7-2 chance for the Tuesday race.
Protektorat was last seen hacking up by 23 lengths in a Windsor chase in January.
He’s been wrapped in cotton wool for his big race since – which is likely to be one of the most fiercely contested races of the Festival.
Willie Mullins’ John Durkan Chase winner Fact To File is likely to head here too and leads the market at 6-4.
While trainer Noel George said he is ’90 per cent’ likely to declare his stable star Il Est Francais for the 2m4f Grade 1 next Thursday.
He believes his stable star will be perfectly suited to track and trip after impressing so much in two runs at Kempton.
Victory for Sir Alex would be particularly poignant given one of the horse’s former co-owners John Hales recently passed.
A legendary owner who won it all including the Grand National with Neptune Collonges, Hales passed last month aged 85.
He and Sir Alex went crazy in the Cheltenham winner’s enclosure last year celebrating the successes of Monmiral and Protektorat.