Breeder O'Brien talks Might Bite's Gold prospects

Small-scale County Limerick breeder John O'Brien is eagerly looking forward to his trip to Cheltenham to cheer on Might Bite in the Timico Cheltenham Gold Cup.

"I think he has a favourite's chance and I wouldn't be one bit surprised if he could do it.  It would obviously be massive for me if he could," said O'Brien.

"Knotted Midge is the only broodmare I've ever had and it was only by accident I got her.  She'll be the only broodmare I'll ever have either bar I keep Might Bite's Walk In The Park half-sister.

"The mare is eighteen now.  She's fresh though as she missed a few years."

Reflecting on Might Bite's King George success O'Brien commented: "I thought he put up a good performance.  He had to go and do the donkey work to take Bristol De Mai out of his comfort zone.

"After beating him off he was always going to be a sitting duck, but every time they came to him he was going on and he was never going to be beat.

"I'd say if any of those outsiders (Double Shuffle and Tea For Two, 2nd and 3rd home) had taken on Bristol De Mai for two miles they'd have struggled in the end."

Looking to his Gold Cup prospects, O'Brien reasoned: "People have this thing that he's very quirky and that he's keen and that.  You'd actually hold that horse with a silk thread.

"He's not a bit keen and the reason he's ridden like that is that he gains lengths with his jumping.

"He'll (Nico de Boinville) have to hold on to him a little bit the next day.  He was faster to the two mile point than the champion chaser was last year.

"They can hardly expect to take the same approach again and win a Gold Cup.  They're going to have to rein him back some bit.  You'd imagine they might settle him in there third or fourth and take their time.

"As regards the waywardness at the finish (in the 2017 RSA Chase) I think that was just a case of being in front too long.  I think if he had a bit of company he'd be fine and I wouldn't worry about it."

Might Bite was destined for big things from early as O'Brien recalled: "I sold him as a three-year-old.  I broke him and I rode him and I sold him on to Henderson's, the very same as I did with his half-brother Beat That.

"Might Bite was a gorgeous horse from the word go.  Beat That was a good looking horse but this fella was a model from the day he was born.

"Beat That is ten at this stage.  I think he's in the Pertemps.  Injuries have taken their toll on him unfortunately.  He's dropped a bit in the handicap though so he might have a squeak too.

"The mare has had two runners, Beat That who has won two Grade Ones, and Might Bite has won three.

"She has a Walk In The Park filly on the ground and she's in foal to Milan.

"Knotted Midge is a full sister to Drombeag who won the Foxhunters — it'd be a fair staying pedigree.

"She sluiced home in a point-to-point, John Thomas (McNamara) rode her for me and she won by a fence.

"Only for she had little injury problems she'd have been a very good mare over the banks.  She was a brilliant jumper.

"We ran her in Punchestown and she was running a cracker until she got hurt.  She was retired then."