CONNECTIONS OF SIR DES CHAMPS insist that he will be a major player in this season’s Gold Cup, after he stayed on for fourth in the Lexus Chase at Leopardstown.

Sir Des Champs, owned by Willie Mullins, will return to Leopardstown in February for the Hennessy Gold Cup having been beaten by just three-quarters of a length on Saturday by Tidal Bay.

Eddie O’Leary, manager for owners Gigginstown House Stud, said that if Sir Des Champs can sort out some of his jumping issues, he will definitely be a contender for the main event at Cheltenham.

O’Leary said: “We were happy with how he ran. He obviously made one or two jumping mistakes and if he’d had a clear round he would have been closer.

“I think he got slightly unsighted at one or two fences, which didn’t help, but overall we were happy with how he performed.

“All going well, he’ll go for the Hennessy next. Let’s just hope all goes well in the meantime.

“After the way he ran (in the Lexus), hopefully at this stage he still has a chance in the Gold Cup, if we can sort his jumping out.”

Davy Russell told At The Races that he could have ridden the French import closer to the pace.

“It was a good race and we went a good, honest pace the whole way. It was a good trial for what we’ll be looking forward to in March,” the champion jockey said.

“He has a lot of stamina and, in hindsight, over the first three fences I maybe should have been a little bit closer and I wouldn’t have depended on his jumping as much as I needed to.

“A couple of mistakes just took him out of it, but he showed good heart and stayed on well.”

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