Protektorat put himself in the Cheltenham Gold Cup picture with a commanding victory in the Betfair Chase at Haydock.
Third behind A Plus Tard at the Festival in March, Dan Skelton’s charge reversed that form in style as Henry de Bromhead’s 1-2 favourite failed to fire and was pulled up three out.
Bristol De Mai led the quintet along as he sought a fourth victory in the race, but as they went down the back for the second time, Harry Skelton was moving his mount closer to the pace and alongside Nigel Twiston-Davies’ gallant grey.
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Skelton remained motionless as the field turned for home and simply had to bide his time to catch up with the game Bristol De Mai before cruising into the lead and coming home at a canter.
It was just the winner’s fourth attempt at a distance of three miles and above and the sponsors responded by making Protektorat 10-1 from 25sfor the Cheltenham Gold Cup and 5s from 12-1 for the King George VI Chase at Kempton on Boxing Day.
Paddy Power pushed out A Plus Tard to 10-1 from 4-1 for the Gold Cup, with Galopin Des Champs the 11-4 favourite.
De Bromhead was at a loss to to explain what he described as a performance that was “too bad to be true” from his Gold Cup hero.
The Cheveley Park Stud-owned eight-year-old was imperious in winning on Merseyside 12 months ago, sauntering 22 lengths clear under Rachael Blackmore.
It was a similar story at Cheltenham in March as A Plus Tard sprinted up the hill to mark himself down as the clear king of the division.
He was unsurprisingly all the rage for his eagerly-awaited return to action as the 1-2 favourite, but it was clear from a relatively early stage that it was not going to be plain sailing.
Eight months on from becoming the first female rider to win the Gold Cup, Blackmore settled A Plus Tard at the rear of the five-runner field, but had started to ask questions of her mount leaving the back straight.
He was already in trouble when a slow leap at the fourth fence from home sealed his fate, with Blackmore quickly admitting defeat and pulling up before the next obstacle.
“I was never that happy, to be honest,” she said afterwards.
“When I did decide we were going to pull up, he stopped very quickly under me – he was very easy to pull up
“He seems fine trotting back, but I was never that happy throughout the race.”
Asked whether she felt the soft ground was a factor, Blackmore added: “Possibly, but he’s a very classy horse and I was hoping that wouldn’t have been an issue that would make him pull up.”
De Bromhead was similarly perplexed and will give A Plus Tard a full check up on his return to Ireland.
“It was obviously too bad to be true. That’s the best thing to say I think for the moment,” said the County Waterford handler.
“We’ll get him home and see. He was in mighty form coming over, but he looked laboured didn’t he?
“Maybe the ground (was a factor), but I don’t want to make excuses. It was too bad to be true and that’s it.
“He seems fine, but we’ll scope him and check him. We can’t say anything (about future plans), we need to go through everything.
“It was very unlike him.”
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