IT can be hard to convince some people. Just ask Theresa May.

A month ago Bristol de Mai took on Might Bite, Native River and Thistlecrack in the Betfair Chase at Haydock – and won by four lengths. But he is still only fourth in betting for the 32Red King George VI Chase at Kempton Boxing Day.

So why are the punters so hard to convince?

The genesis of the doubts can be traced back to 12 months ago. Bristol de Mai won the Betfair Chase, beating Cue Card by 57 lengths. Even allowing for the heavy ground playing its part, it was a performance, which might have had Arkle and Flyingbolt making room on the steeplechasing pantheon.

That theory lasted for the six minutes or so it took for Bristol de Mai to finish sixth behind Might Bite in the King George and then be beaten again at Cheltenham the following month.

A problem with ulcers explained the Kempton run and the horse underwent a breathing operation post Cheltenham but, while his health and confidence may have been restored, the punters are still not so sure.

There is no doubting the ability, just whether Bristol de Mai can deliver with the consistency that sets champions apart from others.

Daryl Jacob just shakes his head and smiles. The jockey has won four Grade One races on Bristol de Mai so needs no convincing.

“It’s funny and I don’t know why,” he said. “But that’s peoples’ opinions and we don’t get involved in that. We’re very proud of the horse and he means a lot to all of us.

“He’s always been pitched in against all the good horses his whole career. Sometimes he’s won, sometimes he’s got beat but he’s never shied away. I wish I had more like him.

“He’s won Grade Ones at three, five, six and seven [years of age] and he’s a tough, hard, durable horse. He came over as a big three-year-old but he always worked well and I knew he had plenty of scope and that the older he got the stronger he’d get. So I was always quite excited about him.”

Those who do not entirely share that excitement do not, in Jacob’s view, know the horse the way that he does.

“I’ve got a good understanding of the horse. It’s like you and me – sometimes you get out of bed the wrong side and you don’t fancy going to work. Horses aren’t robots,” he said, adding: “But when he’s good – he’s good.”

Bristol de Mai may need to be at his very best but there are questions to be answered by others too. The stiff fences at Haydock were claimed to be the reason for Might Bite’s poor run but his backers might just be holding their breath on the run to the first fence.

For Politologue and Waiting Patiently the problem could be the last fence. Not in terms of jumping it but whether their stamina will carry them to it in contention in their first race over three miles.

Jumping and stamina hold no fears for Jacob any more than his horse being an outsider.

“Everyone was writing it [the Betfair Chase] off as a two-horse race,” he said. “It was less pressure on our camp and we knew we had the horse in really good form going into Haydock. Thankfully the horse doesn’t know his price. He’s come out of the race really well, he’s really happy and we’re all systems go. He’s only seven and I think he’ll improve again."

All sounds like a convincing case.