Cheltenham stalwart Mick O'Toole has reason to hope Melon can rule Supreme

It may be 40 years since Mick O'Toole lifted the Cheltenham Gold Cup with Davy Lad and it is going on nearly 20 years since he retired from training, but he is still to the 'go to' man for wise words.O'Toole willingly gives his opinion and advice when asked and one horse he will be keeping an eye on next week is Melon, owned by his good friend Joe Donnelly.Under the care of Ireland's champion trainer Willie Mullins, Melon is ante-post favourite for the Sky Bet Supreme Novices' Hurdle, despite having just had the one run which he won in promising fashion at Leopardstown in January.The Supreme is a race O'Toole knows well, having won it with Mac's Chariot in 1977 and Hartstown in 1981."I'd say he'll run well, but it's a tall order," he said."He's only had one race over hurdles. He's a pretty good horse and he's done everything asked of him."He's won his race and is entitled to be there."I'm not involved with Mr Donnelly at all other than he is a great friend of mine. I don't get involved in it. I'd be more than welcome to get involved if I wanted to, but I'm all right the way I am."A lot of guys ask me to give opinions about horses and things. I've no horses of my own or anything like that."O'Toole started training in 1966 and it was not long before he targeted the Cheltenham Festival.He had eight winners in all, but was denied a ninth when Chinrullah was disqualified after winning the Queen Mother Champion Chase in 1980 because the horse's urine sample was found to contain a prohibitied substance due to contaminated feed."It was a bit of a disgrace because there was no skulduggery about it. It was a technical thing," said O'Toole."Unfortunately he lost the race, but all expenses were paid by the food people. It was contaminated so they paid for everything."However, O'Toole has many fond memories of Cheltenham, with the pinnacle being Davy Lad's Gold Cup victory in 1977."Davy Lad was a long time ago. Cheltenham was a good place to me," he said."Winning the Gold Cup was the main one."O'Toole also made his mark on the Flat, training such stars as Dickens Hill, who won the Irish 2,000 Guineas and the Coral-Eclipse Stakes in 1979."The Flat was good to me as well," he said.He retired from training in 1999, but remains active for a man of 85 and will make his annual pilgrimage to the Festival."I'll go to Cheltenham for a day or two, but I'm getting too old to go any more than that," he said."I still potter around at the races and have a chat with the lads.I'm 85 but, thank god, I'm still in good health."