ON this side of the Irish Sea it has been Colin Tizzard’s season, beyond question, and on Saturday at Newbury his Native River underlined his Gold Cup claims in the Grade 2 Betfair Denman Chase.

This was only a three-runner contest but Native River (11/10) faced Bristol De Mai, impressive winner of the Peter Marsh at Haydock, as well as outsider Le Mercurey.

With Aidan Coleman deputising for Richard Johnson, who was suffering from a heavy cold, the winner adopted his usual front-running role, jumping quickly and accurately. That will always serve him well and he continued to dominate as Coleman started urging him along three from home.

In a tactical affair, run in a time some 25 seconds slower than standard, Le Mercurey moved up on the outside as Daryl Jacob on Bristol De Mai, supported down to 10/11 favourite, tried to slipstream the pair. The market leader found disappointingly little, however, and it was Le Mercurey who posed the bigger threat between the final two fences.

The 14/1 chance threatened to draw level at one stage but Native River has stamina to spare and pulled away again on the run-in to score by just over three lengths with Bristol De Mai, who did not jump particularly well, eight lengths away in third.

BRILLIANT PERFORMANCE

“It was a brilliant performance,” Tizzard enthused. “Richard and Aidan were talking beforehand about how best to ride him. In the Hennessy and Welsh National he went clear and only just held on. This time we decided to hold on to him for longer and he sprinted to the line. He has pace and every gear; it was fantastic.”

Coleman had ridden for Brocade Racing only once before, departing the scene on Hey Big Spender in the Hennessy. This was a far more pleasurable experience and he was suitably impressed, though Johnson will be back in the plate next month.

“He is so uncomplicated and straightforward,” Coleman said. “He was a pleasure to ride and what Richard told me beforehand made my job a lot easier. He’s got a lot of speed and class too.”

The general reaction among bookmakers was to make Native River a 4/1 chance (9/2 in places) for his biggest test. Stable-companion Thistlecrack is 7/4 market leader with Cue Card only around 7/1, though the latter’s final target may be decided by today’s effort in the Ascot Chase.

Le Mercurey delighted Paul Nicholls but Nigel Twiston-Davies acknowledged that Bristol De Mai had run ‘a bit flat’ and he now had five weeks “to get him back and sweeten him up again”.

The layers do not always get these things right but Brisol De Mai can be backed at 33/1 for the Gold Cup now, whereas he is around half those odds for the Ryanair.