Augusta Kate© Photo Healy Racing
Alan Shearer is determined to enjoy his day as an owner regardless of how Augusta Kate gets on in today's Weatherbys Champion Bumper at the Cheltenham Festival.
The former England international footballer has a share in the five-year-old mare as part of the celebrity-laced Masters Syndicate which also includes Lee Westwood and Ant and Dec.
Augusta Kate has looked the real deal in two starts and is towards the head of the market for one of the fiercest betting heats of the week.
Shearer said: "We will have a great day whatever happens. Her trainer Willie Mullins believes if she produces what she has done in her previous racecourse runs so far, she will have a chance as nothing has stood out from the pack in the race.
"She's a horse which does not show too much at home but we are just keeping our fingers crossed for a big run. Graham Wylie put the syndicate together for days like this but we never expected to have one of the fancied runners in a race at the Cheltenham Festival.
"She's produced more than we would have hoped. If the best happens, I might not come home Wednesday night. She's running in the last race on the card so I should not feel any pain at that point," he told Coral.
Mullins added: " Augusta Kate is impossible to rate. You have seen what we've seen because she shows nothing at home. I don't know if it's our gallop or the way we train, but she doesn't show us any ability.
"Indeed, when I went down to Listowel with her, Graham asked if she was any good because he wanted to put some friends into a syndicate. I said we would win something, as in a summer bumper somewhere, but she won by 18 lengths and then won a really good mares' bumper by 12 lengths."
Mullins has won the Champion Bumper a record eight times and also saddles Avenir D'Une Vie Bacardys Battleford Castello Sforza Turcagua and Very Much So
Dermot Weld's First Figaro and Winsome Bucks an easy winner at Leopardstown over Christmas, add to the Irish hand.
Trainer Tom Hogan said of the latter: "His form from Leopardstown looks good and I'd say he'll improve for the run. We hope to go chasing with him one day as he's got a very good pedigree. I don't think the ground will be an issue, but we'd probably prefer it to be more of a stamina test."
Jessica Harrington is responsible for the unbeaten New To This Town who now runs in the Ann and Alan Potts silks made famous by Sizing Europe.
The Potts' retained jockey Johnny Burke said: "He's a grand horse and I'm thrilled that Alan and Ann have bought him. His form has been boosted by Avenir D'Une Vie winning at Naas.
"The one thing that Kate (Harrington, who rode him in his two wins) said to me about him is that if you are to ride him in work at home he doesn't show much, so that's often a good sign that they save it for the track. He's been very tough in both his wins."
