Walsh 'steaming' after Kauto's defeat at Aintree

RUBY WALSH might not be in Frankie Dettori's class for displays of emotion but neither does he refrain from letting anyone know when he is peeved with them. So when Paul Nicholls confessed that his jockey was "steaming" with him after Kauto Star's Aintree defeat yesterday then it's safe to assume that visibility between the pair was limited.

A tactical disagreement between jump racing's most successful team resulted in Nicholls getting his way which in turn looked to get Kauto Star nosed out of the totesport Bowl by his old rival, Our Vic.

Taking the trainer's advice, Walsh kicked on from three out in a move that looked to have secured the Grade Two pot despite a bad mistake at the second last.

Certainly in the past the idea that Our Vic would fight back over three miles wouldn't have occurred to many but as Kauto Star started to flounder in front, Our Vic's new blinkers worked the same enthusiastic trick they had in Cheltenham's Ryanair and in a desperate finish Timmy Murphy's 9 to 1 shot just prevailed.

"Ruby's steaming with me right now. I said to him if you're going well let him bowl along but he felt he should have had a lead and not been so positive," Nicholls admitted after the race.

"I'll take the blame. Ruby said he knew turning in that I'd got it wrong and now he's mad with me. But that's racing. It's not the end of the world."

Coming on the back of his Cheltenham Gold Cup defeat, however, the aura of invincibility that Kauto Star had for much of this season has disappeared and he is out to 7 to 1 to wrest the blue riband crown back off his stable companion, Denman, next year.

Certainly no one was more surprised at Kauto Star coming back to him than Murphy who said: "I had half an idea at the line we got it but I've got it wrong before. But this proves he does stay three miles."

Walsh was also out of luck in the Grade One John Smith's Novices' Hurdle when the Triumph winner, Celestial Halo, was blown away to the tune of seven lengths by the Cheltenham Supreme runner-up Binocular.

Celestial Halo did his best to burn off the opposition from the front but although everything else wilted, Tony McCoy came swinging through on Binocular to win very comfortably and earn quotes of as low as 8 to 1 for next year's Champion Hurdle.

"Katchit is probably rated about 20lb in front of him which is how much he has to improve but he showed today he is improving," said McCoy.

"I thought he was better today than at Cheltenham even though the time there was very good."

The different demands of Aintree compared to Cheltenham were illustrated again by Inglis Drever as the champion stayer could manage only third in the three-mile hurdle behind his old rival Blazing Bailey.

Denis O'Regan was working on Inglis Drever for the entire last circuit and some interference before the last completely ended his chance as Robert Thornton booted Blazing Bailey home.

Thornton, who rides D'Argent in the National, got a one-day ban for causing that interference but said; "He's made hard work of it but you don't mind as long as they do what you ask."

Inglis Drever will have three more races next season before being retired and his trainer, Howard Johnson, added: "This is not his favourite track and he won't be back here."

The first race of the week over the big National fences, the Fox Hunters, resulted in a 6 to 1 success for Christy Beamish who was nine lengths too good for the veteran former double winner Katarino. "He pecked on landing quite badly at Bechers and I thought I was gone," said the winner's 19-year-old rider, Josh Guerriero.

"But I sat back, he stayed on his feet and he outbattled the other horse."

After the earlier disagreement, it was probably good for last night's dinner arrangements that Elusive Dream provided the Nicholls-Walsh team with their first victory of the festival in the Mersey Hurdle.

And as for riding tactics for Master Minded today, Nicholls grinned: "I'll leave that to Ruby!"