Must admit I am starting to come round to DP.
Think more and more this is going to be a real stayers race,well to be fair it normally is.

impossible can I ask, why would RR and WPM be happy if RW choose DC over Djakadam??????????????

I never said RW was RR contracted rider but he is WPM stable jockey so I can't see WPM wanting RW getting off his horse to ride Gordon Elliots??? Unless I'm missing something???

Gigginstown's gentle persuasion always works given their might at WPM's stable; I think RW will choose DC over Djakadam given his recent fall. Maybe Djakadam will be saved for Aintree instead.

impossible I think you should go to the bookies and ask for a price

That's an original one impossible. I get how Don Cossack fans would be happy if Ruby rode him, but why would everyone else be happy in that scenario? Ricci and Mullins would be pretty peeved.

Impossible is aptly named! WPM and RR will be doubly represented in the Gold Cup, by the fav and another trading at single figures and Ruby is riding neither!

Racing manager Eddie O'Leary insists no decisions will be made until Festival week on which horses represent Gigginstown House Stud in the Timico Cheltenham Gold Cup.
It is 10 years since Ryanair supremo Michael O'Leary's racing empire claimed Gold Cup glory with War Of Attrition, but the team have every chance of repeating the feat next month after assembling a formidable hand of staying chasers that includes Gordon Elliott's ante-post favourite Don Cossack and the Willie Mullins-trained Don Poli.

The Gigginstown-owned Road To Riches, trained by Noel Meade, was third in the blue riband last March but was a beaten favourite in Saturday's Irish Gold Cup at Leopardstown, leading to suggestions he could be rerouted to the shorter Ryanair Chase - a race the sponsors have not yet won.

Eddie O'Leary says talk of firming up Festival plans is premature, however, and is prepared to forgive Road To Riches his defeat in testing conditions.

He said: "The ground was brutal in Leopardstown and that was never going to suit him, so we're not despondent.

"Like all of them, it will be between the Gold Cup and the Ryanair and we'll decide during the week of the race. It will depend on the health of the two Dons (Don Cossack and Don Poli) and the ground."

O'Leary does not subscribe to a theory put forward by some that Gigginstown's retained rider Bryan Cooper rode too forceful a race aboard Meade's stable star.

He said: "Bryan rode him as he saw fit and that's grand for us. He rode him the same way at Cheltenham last year and he finished third in the Gold Cup. It's just a ground issue."

Another Gigginstown runner in contention for the same Festival races is Valseur Lido, who may well have won the Irish Gold Cup but for making a mess of the final fence and unseating Ruby Walsh.

His apparent emergence as a major force further muddies the waters for Cooper, who will have some tough choices to make.

O'Leary said: " Whether Valseur Lido runs in the Gold Cup or the Ryanair we'll wait and see, but he was running a super race and he's thrown his hat into the ring.

"Bryan will ride whichever horse he feels has the best chance in both races."
.
.

And on soft ground only losing second in the last fifty yards. Couldn't back him now but it certainly wouldn't surprise me to see him go close.

highly doubt he'll be in the GC, they need a Ryanair horse. Mullins will push Lido for GC and who are they left with for the Ryanair? Only RTR unfortunately.

RTR should definitely be in the Gold Cup imo. The ground went against him last year and he still ran a cracker. The ground was even more against him at the weekend and he was given a silly ride, so I don't think it's fair to right him off for that run. I would be worried how much that will have taken out of him however, given the way the race panned out.

Another angle I'm not sure has been discussed in relation to the horse is that with being targeted at the Galway Plate in 2014 the horse basically went from the Autumn of 2013 and had a run in to last years Gold Cup without a genuine break of three or four months as most horses get during the summer months. He got that last summer but this decision to target the IGC in that ground may have greatly hindered his chance.

agree - and how about this for irony - the owners already had a horse in the race that as it turned out had a better chance in the conditions to win the race so for me they couldnt have got it more wrong if they tried - i would like to know what was going through the trainers mind as they were lining up at the start of the igc - at that point he would have known how the track was riding and he would have known that not only had conditions cast a serious doubt over him winning that race but also of him leaving his cgc race behind too. Also probably knows that whatever he is thinking he has to put up and shut up.

Looks like RTR still in.

Corrected Defectors.  Apologies for first post but copied from Twitter.

Al Ferof, First Lieutenant, Lord Windermere, W Warrior, Seeyouatmidnight, Virak, No More Heroes, Roi Du Mee.

Haha, read your post and thought WTF.  So went back and saw the corrected version.  No surprises anyway.

lay that til the cow's come then

Why all this constant talk about road to riches. Couldn't win it last year. Horses only ever win it in their first try at the race and yet all I hear about and read about the gold cup involves rtr?? Am I missing something ? Surely there are several more likely winners than this one.

Don't know how much you can take from those Kemption gallops but Cue Card looked in tremendous nick.  Brennan had a big smile on his face coming back in which is always a good sign.

Aux Ptits Soins seemed to have the measure of Saphir du Rheu.

Hope it is a done deal with the pilot for DC in the GC, and the backing from DC's trainer speaks volume to me. No offence BC,DC is not a good ride for you I'm afraid.