Mangan has every faith in Spillane’s Tower

Jimmy Mangan is respectful of the enemy from within, as he prepares his Cotswold Chase hero Spillane’s Tower for a tilt at the Cheltenham Gold Cup next month.

The 70-year-old veteran of the Irish training ranks saw his resurgent stable star outbattle L’Homme Presse to put himself in the picture for the blue riband on Festival Trials day.

Now having watched the action on home soil at the Dublin Racing Festival, Mangan is optimistically hoping Spillane’s Tower’s owner JP McManus does not supplement his impressive Irish Gold Cup hero Fact To File for the Cheltenham equivalent – but would also have no problem locking horns with the cream of the staying chase division.

He said: “I watched it closely actually and I hope that Fact To File isn’t supplemented. He’d be a big problem if he is supplemented because he is a very good horse.

“He’s beaten us before in the John Durkan (in 2024) but ours wasn’t 100 per cent fit that day. I’m not saying that Willie’s was 100 per cent fit either, but I know the ground had been very tight up to the John Durkan and I couldn’t get the gallops into him that he required.

“That was Jack Kennedy’s first time riding him and he made Fact To File work hard to beat him. I wouldn’t be afraid of Fact To File.

“Galopin Des Champs – what a horse. He’s not getting any younger but he’s far from done, I’d say.

“I don’t worry about others. If I go to the big races I fancy my own and that’s it. They all have chances – they’re not running for the sake of running.”

It is nearly 23 years since Monty’s Pass conquered Aintree to give Mangan Grand National glory, with Spillane’s Tower providing a first winner on British soil since that memorable day in Liverpool when triumphing at Cheltenham at the back-end of January.

Now the dual Grade One winner has the chance to join Monty’s Pass in local folklore, as he flies the flag for the County Cork handler’s boutique team on the biggest stage.

Mangan added: “He’s a very important horse for me. I’ve had good horses that were all handicappers but this is a graded horse who can compete at the top level no problem.

“He has kept improving. He won the two Grade Ones as a novice. To win one you think you’ll be lucky but you’ll never be that lucky to win two of them, so I was pretty happy that I had a good horse.

“I have about 10 horses. I did have more, but I’m happy. I don’t want big numbers. I’d rather have quality horses over quantity. I did have around 20 around the time of Monty’s Pass.

“In the village I come from the signs are still up ‘Home of Monty’s Pass’, so hopefully they can put another one up!”

It was soft underfoot when Spillane’s Tower won last time and one caveat to a Gold Cup bid is the prospect of good ground at Prestbury Park, with cushion in the surface deemed essential.

Mangan explained: “Ground is the big key to him. He will not run on tight ground. He has to have juice in the ground. Number one, he’s a big horse and he jumps an incredible length and I just wouldn’t risk him on tight ground.

“Yielding (good to soft) would be fine. I would be hoping that the weather would stay the way it is.”