Cooper wants Don Cossack, Thistlecrack showdown

Bryan Cooper has admitted he would love to 'take on' Gold Cup favourite Thistlecrack aboard defending champion Don Cossack.

The Colin Tizzard-trained charge has swept all before him on his first season over fences and earned rave reviews for his destruction of Cue Card and a high class field in the King George on St. Stephen's Day.

Thistlecrack's unbeaten run has seen the layers make him a short-priced favourite to take Cheltenham's biggest prize in March but Don Cossack, who won in commanding fashion last March before being struck down with injuries, will be back and ready to defend his title and Cooper can't wait for it.

"Watching him every day, the glow is back in him - he looks fantastic," he told At The Races.

"The lad who is riding him every day says he couldn't be happier with him, so fingers crossed everything can keep going the way it's going. We'll take it week by week.

"It would be nice to have a go at him [Thistlecrack]. He is very flashy in what he's been doing, but at the end of the day, Don Cossack is a Gold Cup winner and if he comes back with the same spark he had there last year, it's going to take a hell of a horse to beat him."

The Gordon Elliott-trained Don Cossack is priced around 10-12/1 to retain the Gold Cup and should the Gigginstown owned horse be at his maximum level come the Cheltenham Festival, then that price could look generous in the extreme.

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