Gold Cup duo face waiting game

Punters are advised to hold their bets until the last minute on the well-fancied Norman Mason-trained duo of Red Ark and Red Marauder for Saturday's Tripleprint Gold Cup.

All Cheltenham plans have been thrown into doubt by the latter horse suffering a setback.

Red Marauder was fourth in the Thomas Pink Gold Cup and fifth in the Hennessy last month, but the knock he sustained in the latter race became infected last weekend, causing him to miss crucial exercise.

Richard Guest, assistant trainer to Mason and retained rider, issued an upbeat report today on the 12-1 chance but stressed no decision would be made on his participation until later this week.

Whether Red Ark tackles the shorter Wragge & Co Handicap Chase, earlier on the same card, instead of the Tripleprint for which he is rated 7-1 third favourite with Ladbrokes and William Hill depends on both his stablemate's fortunes and on some delicate husband-and-wife negotiations.

"Red Marauder was off work in the early part of last week with a sore leg which then became infected on Friday night," said Guest. "We couldn't do much with him over the weekend but he cantered yesterday and will do so again today. He's 100 per cent at the moment, but these things can flare up again.

"It's impossible to say at this stage whether he'll run, but if he does I'd be keen to keep him and Red Ark apart. The latter is owned by Mrs Mason and Red Marauder by her husband, so perhaps they can come to some agreement about it. With a competitive and valuable race like that, they're both likely to have their own views."

The ground at Cheltenham is good-to-soft with some soft places, which Guest reckons gives Red Marauder the better chance in the Tripleprint.