Cappa has eyes on a Gold strike.

Byline: BOB DOWNING

CAPPA Bleu, the winner of the "amateur Gold Cup" at the Cheltenham Festival last March, is being aimed towards the Hennessy Gold Cup - and almost certainly a crack at Kauto Star and Denman in the 2010 Gold Cup next March.

The fact that Betfred have slashed his price from 66-1 to 25-1 for the blue riband race clearly underlines that there are people in the betting world already prepared to put their money down.

Trained to perfection by Shropshire point-to-point legend Sheila Crow to win the Christie Foxhunters Chase, it was already known in many circles that Cappa Bleu would then be heading for pastures new at the highly-successful Evan Williams yard in the Vale of Glamorgan.

After all, Cappa Bleu runs in the colours of Worcestershire-based William Rucker and his wife; they also own State of Play, the horse who gave Williams the first major success of his training career when winning the 2006 running of the Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury.

And, as Williams gets his winter team ready for the off, he announced exciting plans for both horses which include the Gold Cup and the John Smith's Grand National. Williams said: "We have had Cappa Bleu in the stable for some time now

Tel: [phone] www.reliant-windows.co.uk after he spent his summer holidays with the owners. "We have had a nice six to eight weeks with him and clearly he is a very nice horse and we have been very happy with him."

"We thought we would go very quietly with him early on, though. He is eligible to run in novice chases until the end of October, as he needs to have another two runs under rules to get a handicap mark allowing him to run in the major handicaps.

"Ground permitting, he will have two runs in October and then we will see how we are looking as regards a handicap mark. Then, I suppose races like the Hennessy would be the obvious target."

Williams and the Ruckers have had a soft spot for the first major chase of the National Hunt season after the success of State Of Play, which rocketed Williams into the higher echelons of the training lists.

After his success at Cheltenham last year, the talk then was that Cappa Bleu would return to Headquarters in 2010 for the Gold Cup and Williams said: "That does not surprise me. He has done nothing wrong and he has certainly caught the imagination of National Hunt racing people. To win a Foxhunters in the man-nehe did marked him out as a very exciting horse.

''He has a fair amount of improvement to make before he could think about winning a Gold Cup and there are a lot of races along the way where he has to prove himself. But we do think he is a high-class horse and we would be delighted if we were good enough to run in the Gold Cup.'' Williams knows how to get horses ready for such a prestigious race as he proved last year with State Of Play. That horse finished sixth of 18 in the 2007 Gold Cup and was considered unlucky not to have a higher finish. Williams said: "It would nice to think we have another horse like him of the same calibre."

Comparing the two horses who could emerge as two giants in the forthcoming season, Williams said: "Cappa Bleu is a different type of horse. He would have a lot more size and scope than State Of Play."

So far, Cappa Bleu has been going through the normal pre-season exercises of road work and has already started cantering.

His jumping qualities are well-documented and although Williams did not see him race in point-to points, he has already spoken to his regular pilot, Richard Burton. He said: "My assistant, James Tudor, saw him when he won his point to point and all the reports we have had would suggest that jumping will not be a problem."

Those who follow the point-to-point scene will have heard that Sheila Crow believed Cappa Bleu was the best horse around and Williams holds her opinion in the highest regard.

He said: "She did an outstanding job with the horse. She is someone I rode winners for during my point-to-point days as a rider. She found High Chimes for me and he was a winner at the Cheltenham Festival and her husband Edward was also a terrific judge of a horse.

"I have a lot of respect for the family, as they do a job on the point-to-point scene that any professional trainer would struggle to match."

But if Cappa Bleu will be heading to Cheltenham, then Aintree is on the agenda for State Of Play, especially after his run in the Grand National last April when he finished fourth, 18 lengths behind Mon Mome.

Many observers felt he was unlucky not to finish in second place after a couple of mistakes in the back straight took their toll and ensured he was shuffled back in the field.

Williams added: "He is in and he is very happy and we could look at the Becher Chase for him although we could decide to go straight to the Grand National.

Surely it does not get any better than that and Williams, whose has already chalked up 30 winners during the summer jumping campaign, enthused: "Anyone would be grateful to be talking about Gold Cups and Grand Nationals and, fingers crossed, we can have an injury-free build-up to the big events."

CAPTION(S):

EXCITED: Trainer Evan Williams