Trainer out with guns blazing

Gold Cup Michael Hourigan interview'I've the best horse in the race. Is there anything else that's won eight Grade One s?' Brian O'Connor reports

On the eve of Beef Or Salmon's fourth attempt at Cheltenham Gold Cup immortality, his trainer, Michael Hourigan, is in no mood to pussy-foot around those taking pot-shots at the big Irish hope. The shots might have a familiar ring, but that doesn't make them less annoying.

Beef Or Salmon's record around Cheltenham isn't good enough; he doesn't like the place anyway; it would be better if the Gold Cup were being run at Leopardstown; it's a bad Gold Cup in a year where Kicking King is injured and Best Mate is dead.

In a game of opinions, nothing seems to polarise like Beef Or Salmon. You either love him or hate him. Not surprisingly, Hourigan's knuckles crackle with nothing but love.

"To me it is insulting to say if Beef Or Salmon can't win this year, he'll never win it. If you're not in the final, you can't play, and we've got to the final," he says.

"To be honest, I don't give a f*** what kind of Gold Cup it is. I don't give a f*** if it's a walk over. A Gold Cup is a Gold Cup. If it's a bad marathon at the Olympics they still give out a gold medal to the winner."

Not unreasonably, the Patrickswell trainer points out that all those critics who carp at Beef Or Salmon's record would be singing a very different tune if they owned the horse. And anyway, talk is cheap. This time Hourigan is happy he's got his horse ready to tame the biggest test of all.

It's actually quite easy to argue that those who point to the track itself as being a negative to Beef Or Salmon's chances are well off the mark.

His first attempt ended in a fall at the third fence in 2003, hardly a heinous crime for an immature novice. The following year, Beef Or Salmon arrived off an interrupted preparation and still managed to finish better than anything else when fourth to Best Mate. Last season's performance was truly dismal, but not many of us would fancy flogging ourselves over three and a quarter miles while feeling lower than a snake's belly. But this term has been very different.

"He's better now than ever before. No pains, no aches, just real healthy. As far as I'm concerned that's the real answer to the horse. People who go on about Cheltenham being the problem are talking rubbish. He's won in Galway, Gowran, Punchestown, Clonmel, everywhere we've asked him to go," Hourigan declares.

All Beef Or Salmon needs now is a fair share of luck and the critics will have to tuck into some sizable amounts of crow, according to the horse's fans. The problem is, the Gold Cup has never been a lucky contest for Hourigan.

"It hasn't really, but then this will be the eighth year in a row I will have a runner in the race. Dorans Pride ran four times and was third in 1998. Let the next man stand up and say that. It's something I'm very proud of," he says.

Despite his protests, however, the general perception of this year's Gold Cup is that it is wide open. Not for nothing are there 24 declared to take their chance. No one wants to look at the race and wonder afterwards what might have happened if only they'd taken a shot at it.

Not surprisingly, a chunk of the field can be discarded as possible threats on the form book, but who knows what threat they may be on the track itself?

"I don't give Paul (Carberry) instructions. He will deal with the race as it pans out. My only instructions will be win if you're able," Hourigan smiles.

"I think I've the best horse in the race. Is there anything else in the race that's won eight Grade Ones? I don't care where he won them, he has actually gone and won them. He's also won over a mile and six at Galway and won up the Curragh under Mick Kinane. How many of the others could do that?

"I know I have the answer to that, but I don't know if I will have the luck to win the race. The best horse doesn't always win the Gold Cup. I've found that out before," he says.

If there are any rewards for perseverance floating around today, surely Hourigan and Beef Or Salmon will get a sizable slice of good fortune. Certainly, if it does happen, no one will appreciate it more than the straight-talking trainer.