Arkle or Brown Advisory for Romeo Coolio? Odds-on favourite lunges late to leave Gordon Elliott facing a Cheltenham Festival quandary

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Gordon Elliott sent out six winners across the three meetings in Ireland, but if you offered him one gift on Christmas Day this would have been the one he would have chosen. 

Romeo Coolio remains unbeaten over fences, adding a third Grade 1 to an impressive CV, but it came with a mighty scare and those who took odds of 8-15 would have been able to relax only as he flashed across the line half a length in front and not a moment sooner. 

Jack Kennedy needed all his nous and every single yard of the 2m1f trip to tame Irish Panther, whose cause wasn't helped by an untidy landing after the last. 

Romeo Coolio got there in the nick of time and remains on course for a crack at the Arkle, although this performance would suggest his ideal trip could be over a lot further. 

Indeed, despite winning, his price for the Arkle was pushed out to as big as 6-1 with William Hill having started the day as short as 3-1 with some firms. He is now just 11-2 (from 14) with bet365 for the Brown Advisory over three miles and half a furlong. 

On that quandary, Elliott remarked: "I said to Jack straight away that two miles is going to be too sharp for him, but he said ‘don’t rule it out yet, he’ll have learned a lot as he was spending a bit of time in the air over his fences and was a bit slow away from them’. 

"If we got soft ground on the first day of Cheltenham, you never know. The beauty I have with these owners [KTDA Racing] is that we can leave everything as late as we can. We can enter him in everything and then see what to do."

On this gutsy winning performance, the winning trainer added: "I was hoping the line was going to be further away than it was! Jack said Kieren Buckley [on Irish Panther] was very good on his horse, he winged the second-last and got three lengths on him and we got stuck in a pocket. The horse was very gutsy – we know he stays very well and we’ve learned a lot."

Kennedy was thrilled to celebrate the 52nd Grade 1 success of his career, and has huge faith in Romeo Coolio. 

The rider said: "He's a seriously good horse. I thought I would definitely get there just after the last but Kieran's horse kept going, and I actually wasn't sure if we'd get up halfway up the run-in. Thankfully he did, and I do think he would have learned an awful lot. He's a proper horse and it's great that he keeps winning."

It was heartbreak for Eddie and Patrick Harty, the joint-trainers of the runner-up. Irish Panther did just about everything right and pulled a dozen lengths clear of July Flower in third. He was just run out of it close home, but looked very comfortable at the top level and connections can continue to dream. 

This was Elliott's day, though. He will have some thinking to do in the weeks and months ahead about whether to stick to the shorter distances with Romeo Coolio, or twist to take on Final Demand over trips around three miles. It's a nice problem to have, all the same. 

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