BRYAN COOPER is ready to dish the kryptonite to his Festival foes.
The comeback king is flying high after a difficult few years and he heads to the Festival in superhero form.
His big hope is Paul Nolan-trained Latest Exhibition, who has improved through the winter and is now a leading contender for Friday’s Albert Bartlett.
The classy stayer gave Cooper his first Grade 1 success in three years when an heroic winner last month at Leopardstown’s Dublin Racing Festival.
And the jockey, who has ridden eight Cheltenham Festival winners so far, reckons there is more to come from a horse with the superpowers to lift him to a ninth later this week.
Cooper said: “He is improving and gone from strength-to-strength with each run.
“It’s great for Paul to get a proper Grade 1 horse again and he goes to Cheltenham with a great chance.
“He is very tough, he has all the facets of a top stayer in the making. He jumps well and stamina is his forte.
“I was a bit worried going to Leopardstown at the Dublin Festival just because we were racing around the tighter inside track and the ground was as dry as he would want it.
“I was impressed with the way he did it because quite a few things went against him through the race.
“He missed one down the back and he was the first horse off the bridle turning for home.
“But I loved the way he put it to bed from the back of the last.
“When you ask him to pick up he will keep finding and fighting for you.
“The Albert Bartlett is on the New Course at Cheltenham which will be perfect for him.
“You can ride a race and you have loads of time to get rolling up the straight.
“There are only two hurdles in the last half-mile. “It’s a long old run from the back of the second last to the last so I like to think that it will suit him.”
It has been a hard road back to the top table for the luckless Cooper, 27.
His injuries in recent years have included a double leg break, a broken arm, collapsed lung and lacerated liver.
He rode 100 winners during the 2015-16 season, but he has had to rebuild his career after losing the job as number one rider for Gigginstown just 12 months later. He said: “I’ve had plenty of time on the sidelines with injury so I’m used to it and I’ve found ways to occupy myself.
“But it is very frustrating. It’s not only the physical pain but the mental pain of missing out on winners.
“But when you have got horses like Latest Exhibition to come back to ride it makes it all a lot easier.
“It was always going to take a bit of time to rebuild after you throw all your eggs into one basket, but you live and learn.
“If you have good people supporting you and you’re putting in the hard work it will pay off in the long run.
“Lewis Hamilton wouldn’t be world champion every year if he didn’t have the best engine to work with.
“You need a horse with a big engine under the bonnet to keep you going.
“So I’m delighted to have found Latest Exhibition and hopefully we can both stay injury-free and keep moving forward.”
But it hasn’t all been doom and gloom for Cooper, who can’t help but grin from ear to ear when recalling Don Cossack’s stunning Gold Cup triumph four years ago.
Cooper smiled: “It was a fantastic day.
“Some people say growing up that they’d love to win a Grand National, but for me the Gold Cup is the biggest race on the jumps racing stage.
“To win it at 23 years of age was unbelievable and I never would have achieved that without Gigginstown and Gordon Elliott.
“He was a fantastic horse and it’s just a shame he never got to come back to have another crack at it because I feel he was only hitting the peak of his career.
“The video replay came up the other day and you don’t see many horses winning a Gold Cup pushed out hands and heels from the back of the last. It just shows how good he was.
“There was plenty of hype about Cue Card who fell three out, but I have absolutely no doubt I’d have had him beat, I had so much horse left. That is a day I’ll never forget.”
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