Ivanovich Gorbatov© Photo Healy Racing
Ivanovich Gorbatov bids to rekindle memories of the great Istabraq in the JCB Triumph Hurdle at Cheltenham.
Owned by JP McManus, the name on the racecard may say Aidan O'Brien but to all intents and purposes he is trained by Joseph O'Brien, the recently-retired multiple Classic-winning jockey.
He is in the process of gaining a training licence from his father's original base in Piltown, County Kilkenny, and has made a bright start with the jumpers in his care, with Ivanovich Gorbatov looking something special when beating the highly-touted Willie Mullins-trained Let's Dance
He would be a first Festival winner for Aidan O'Brien since Istabraq won the last of his three Champion Hurdles in 2000.
The Montjeu gelding was sent off the 8-13 favourite for a Grade One at Leopardstown last month, but could only finish fourth and O'Brien junior is hoping the livelier ground at Cheltenham will help.
"He worked at Leopardstown after racing the other day and Barry (Geraghty) was very happy with him," he said.
"Nothing came to light after his last run in the Grade One other than he didn't like the ground. He got away with it first time over hurdles and maybe we got a bit of a false sense of security from that.
"We do think he's a good horse and hopefully on the better ground at Cheltenham he'll show an improved performance. The mistake he made in the back straight last time wouldn't have helped him, but we think the biggest problem was the ground."
Willie Mullins runs three, with Ruby Walsh on Footpad winner of the race in which Ivanovich Gorbatov was beaten.
"I like the form of Footpad's race. We dropped him in and I thought he was very, very good in a true-run race. The Triumph is usually a strongly-run race and that will suit him," said Mullins.
Mullins also runs two fillies in Let's Dance and Apple's Jade
