Gordon Elliott would not be shocked if Bryan Cooper decided against riding Cheltenham Gold Cup favourite Don Cossack in favour of one of the other Gigginstown House Stud-owned runners.
Gigginstown's retained jockey has to choose from Don Cossack, RSA and Lexus Chase winner Don Poli, last year's third Road To Riches and even Valseur Lido, who looked set to win the Irish Gold Cup until falling at the last.
Don Cossack worked with stablemate No More Heroes, favourite for the RSA Chase, after racing at Leopardstown on Sunday.
Cooper partnered the latter and Davy Russell was on Don Cossack, which unsurprisingly set tongues wagging.
But Elliott said: “I don’t know if Bryan is going to ride him (Don Cossack).
“I hope he does, but if he doesn’t, I’ll have my arm around him as he’s a big part of our team.
“He might ride Don Poli, he might ride Road To Riches, he might ride Valseur Lido, I don’t know.
"I wouldn't be shocked if he didn't ride our horse. The Willie Mullins factor is a lot bigger than the Gordon Elliott factor.
“No matter what anyone says, if Willie bounces out and has three winners on Tuesday, it has to be at the back of your mind.
“I think if the ground came up on the softer side, Bryan would definitely ride Don Poli.
"If he doesn't ride Don Cossack, Davy Russell is there, Barry Geraghty is there and there's Richard Johnson. All them lads don't have rides in the Gold Cup.
“Davy sat on him the other day and I wouldn’t have any problem with him riding the horse.
“There was really nothing to him riding the horse the other day. It just made sense for Bryan to ride No More Heroes as he’ll definitely be riding him in the RSA.
“Cheltenham is a long way away and there won’t be a shortage of jockeys to ride him.
“Bryan says he won’t decide until declaration time what he’s going to ride. I’m sure in the back of his head he knows what he’s going to ride, but he’s not telling any of us.
“There’ll be no pressure on him. I’m hoping I’ll win the Gold Cup, but if I don’t and he’s on another horse I’ll be cheering him on.”
Elliott had suggested Don Cossack might be fitted with cheekpieces in the Gold Cup, but Elliott said: “I’m 99.9 per cent sure he won’t have any headgear.
“Around Leopardstown the other day he jumped and travelled and did everything right and if the ground came up on the better side he definitely won’t.
“If it came up on the softer side he might, but I don’t think he will.
“I was delighted with him in Leopardstown the other day.
“He’ll have one more nice piece of work. He’ll do plenty of cantering at home and will have one more day away and that will be it.”
