It’s a big week for Presenting Percy. A huge week actually. Connections of the RSA Chase winner and the Gold Cup favourite are surely edging closer to desperation levels with regard to getting at least one run into the eight-year-old pre Cheltenham.

He is in the Galmoy Hurdle at Gowran Park on Thursday but going along with what we’ve seen all season, Pat Kelly will be closely monitoring the ground and if it’s not sufficiently soft, we are unlikely to see Presenting Percy.

This morning Ray Dreeling, track foreman at the Kilkenny track, reported that with frost lifting and a few showers forecast this evening, it could go to soft by close of play today, but worryingly for Kelly and co, the weather is set to be fine for the rest of the week. Any description with the word soft in it looks a hopeful rather than confident prediction at this stage.

It is a peculiar set of circumstances that it has gotten to this stage with Presenting Percy. This is the horse who showed up everywhere and anywhere last season - a three-mile hurdle, a three-mile-five-furlong handicap chase, out of novice company to take on a Grade 1 horse in a two-mile-four-furlong chase. Granted he had his soft ground conditions for all of those runs, but with that sort of campaigning, he showed his durability.

One of Presenting Percy’s best performances over hurdles was his comprehensive win in the Pertemps Final at Cheltenham two seasons ago. The ground was like a runway that day, certainly as fast or faster than anything we’ve had in Ireland this jumps season so you’d have to surmise that the train of thought from Kelly is to not risk the horse on good ground, so to reduce the risk of injury or any lasting effect which would compromise his main goal of the Gold Cup.

If that is the case, it seems an overly cautious approach. Of course it is understandable you would be cautious with your best horse but this season is passing Presenting Percy by. Surely he could have run in one of the big handicap chases at Limerick and Cork, which have had plenty of soft ground this season.

If he doesn’t run this week, you’re looking at last-chance saloon territory in either the Irish Gold Cup or Red Mills Chase back at Gowran Park. But the ground doesn’t look to be getting any softer anywhere, if anything we’re edging closer to the time of year that the opposite happens. Maybe Thursday’s Galmoy Hurdle is already last chance saloon.

If so, you’re talking about the real possibility of the Gold Cup favourite travelling to Cheltenham having not jumped a fence in public all season. And in that instance, you’d have to seriously question whether he should be favourite at all.

Presenting Percy would be a hugely popular Gold Cup winner and he certainly has plenty of fans. He has become a flagship horse for the small trainer ranks. But we need to see him run. Hopefully his season is kickstarted on Thursday.

THYESTES

The main event at Gowran Park on Thursday is of course the Thyestes Chase. Gordon Elliott and Willie Mullins are responsible for over half of the 36 horses entered, which in itself is not strange, but that neither have one or two obvious candidates is more indicative of the season we’re having.

Mullins’s shortest priced horse is Invitation Only (10/1), a non runner at Thurles yesterday because of the good ground. That will be a factor for him again on Thursday and while he is talented, a mark of 152 looks tough considering he was beaten 22 lengths on seasonal debut at Tramore. Elliott won the race with Monbeg Notorious last season and the same runner holds the joint shortest price of his nine-strong entry at this point. He is obviously a talented sort but the ground has derailed his whole season to Presenting Percy-level standards and off a 15lbs higher mark and on seasonal debut, it looks a tough task.

This looks a tricky puzzle. Down the betting, Landofhopeandglory (pictured) could be interesting at 25/1. His run to be fifth to Westerner Point in the Tim Duggan at Limerick over Christmas was eyecatching, in that he made a mistake four out, was slightly hampered two out, and then stayed on well at the end of the near two-and-a-half-mile trip. Still 12lbs lower over fences and still only a six-year-old, he could be interesting over this longer trip. He might not stay, it will be his first try at a distance over two miles and five furlongs, but he ran well in the Queen’s Vase when trained by Aidan O’Brien on the flat, so that bodes well.

THE BETTING FORUM

I attended the Betting Forum, organised by Sunday, a business venture by Noel Hayes and Darren McGrath, at Leopardstown Pavilion on Saturday. Starting at 9:00am, it went on until 4:45, a long day but I’d imagine it was an informative one for many.

I’d class myself as a keen bettor on racing, so many of the topics discussed were well known to me. I’m obviously not an expert, hence why I was sitting on small chair instead of a high stool, but it was easy to understand much of what was discussed in the topics such as punting strategy and especially the psychology of gambling, which had both a humorous and serious tone.

A friend summed it up perfectly when he said: “The 20-year-old me would have loved it.” In that regard, if you didn’t have this sort of previous knowledge and thought enough of your approach to betting that you were willing to give up your Saturday to listen to a panel of guys talking about it, you probably were pleased enough with what you got from the day. This was in-depth information from some of the best judges in the game, namely our own Donn McClean and Andy Holding, resident tipster on oddschecker.com.

One thing I heard a lot was people wondering about the contrast of what Sunday was about and what this forum was all about. I did a Big Interview piece with both Noel and Darren, primarily on their venture back in November, where my reading was that their business was hoping to open up racing without constantly using betting as a gateway. Considering that, I could completely understand the people I spoke to at the event, sounding curious about the contrast with that approach and this seminar.

However both Noel and Darren acknowledged in the piece that betting has an obvious part to play in the sport, just that it perhaps shouldn’t be the central attraction, that there is far more to it after that. The idea of hosting a betting forum, from my reading, was the best way to get initial exposure and a starting point to familiarising people with Sunday. The pair are looking to do more events like this in the future, when presumably there will be a clearer insight to what they are all about.

Whatever the case may be, anyone who puts money behind an initiative designed to introduce more people to racing, deserve plenty of praise, patience and credit. Good luck to them.