Photo courtesy of RacehorsePhotos
By Charlie McCann
THE Cheltenham Gold Cup is the Blue Riband of jump racing and, having spoken to jockey Barry Geraghty on Wednesday, it is fair to say that confidence behind Bobs Worth (3.20) retaining his crown is growing as the sun beats down on Prestbury Park.
A winner at the Cheltenham Festival for the last three years (Albert Bartlett 2011, RSA 2012, Gold Cup 2013) the horse may not have captured the imagination of the public yet as he is not the flashiest of animals but he is a dour, relentless galloper, safe, if not spectacular, jumper and I think he is the one to beat.
Silviniaco Conti was, arguably, going better than the selection when coming down three out in the corresponding race last season but that was on his favoured soft ground and he might have to improve on his Kempton King George success on Boxing Day to trouble the selection.
Having backed Royal Irish Hussar for the Triumph Hurdle earlier in the season I am loath to desert him at the eleventh hour, but he was very disappointing at Doncaster last time and, although excuses were given for the below par run, he is reluctantly overlooked.
Preference is for Calipto (1.30) who has impressed in winning both starts for Paul Nicholls since coming over from France and is taken to get one on the board for the former Champion trainer who, at the time of writing, has had a frustrating first half of the meeting.
One of my bets of the meeting is Cheltenian (2.05) each way in the County Hurdle. The selection is only 3lbs higher than when finishing fourth in the Betfair Hurdle last time on ground he would have hated and he must have a leading chance on this better ground. Note we are paying 5 places on the race at BetVictor and, at the time of writing, the Philip Hobbs-trained runner is 9/1 for what is always an ultra-competitive heat.
At a bigger price the ground is coming right for Montbazon (20/1) of Alan King who returned from a long lay-off when down the field at Newbury but is another for whom the spring ground is a positive.
There are many across the Irish Sea who believe Briar Hill, last year’s Bumper winner, is a certainty for the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle but I’m not convinced that Willie Mullins will have a clean sweep of the Novice Hurdle division and think Briar Hill might fail where Vautor and Faugheen have succeeded.
Marginal preference is for Kings Palace (2.40) of David Pipe; the horse looked a potential superstar when scoring over C&D earlier in the season and the yard will be looking for revenge following the disappointing run of Red Sherlock on Wednesday in the Neptune.
Harbour Court (4.00) will need luck in running in the Foxhunters’ but Alan Hill’s 8-y-old looked a future star when scoring at Cheltenham and Stratford last summer although I do hope that his talented jockey doesn’t overdo the waiting tactics.
David Pipe has never saddled the winner of the conditional jockey’s race named in honour of his father Martin but he has an excellent chance this afternoon courtesy of Vieux Lion Rouge (4.40) who has had a quiet campaign possibly with this race in mind for some time. You don’t normally associate Wincanton and Sedgefield as the breeding ground for Festival winners but that is where he has plied his trade over hurdles and remember he has only met with defeat once in six career starts.
The getting out stakes looks difficult to say the least but Ned Buntline (5.15) is an Irish novice who has plenty of scope and, whilst he lacks the experience over the larger obstacles of many of today’s rivals, is at the right end of the handicap. He can reward each way support at 10/1 with BetVictor.
For all your racing odds check out BetVictor.com
