English/Ire
Cheltenham Spotlight: Cheltenham Gold Cup
The Cheltenham Gold Cup brings together the best of the staying chase division from both sides of the Irish Sea and this year’s renewal is set to be an exciting race, despite the late withdrawal of two-time Gold Cup winner Galopin Des Champs.
In recent years, the Blue Riband of National Hunt racing has been dominated by Irish-trained horses, with only two of the last twelve renewals going to Britain. Of the top five in the betting market, Irish trainers are represented by two – Willie Mullins' Gaelic Warrior and Gavin Cromwell's Inothewayurthinkin.
Placed on his last two starts, Gaelic Warrior will be looking to defy the statistics that Gold Cup winners need to be successful on their previous run (eight of the last twelve). Successful in Grade 1 John Durkan Memorial Chase on seasonal reappearance, the eight-year-old finished a short head third in the thrilling Grade 1 King George VI Chase at Kempton against the re-opposing The Jukebox Man and Banbridge. Well-beaten into second by Fact To File in the Grade 1 Irish Gold Cup, many anticipate the sometimes-quirky gelding will show better form away from Leopardstown.
Last year's surprise winner Inothewayurthinkin has struggled to find the same sparkling form this season and fell heavily in the Irish Gold Cup on his latest run. After a reportedly excellent piece of work and the application of first-time cheekpieces, the course and distance winner will take his chance with Mark Walsh aboard.
The Jukebox Man, set to have only his fifth start over fences, enters the race unbeaten tackling the larger obstacles. Having missed nearly a year off the track due to injury, he returned with an easy win in a graduation chase at Haydock and stepped up his form to win the King George VI Chase at Kempton, rallying hard to defy more experience chases over a trip that was anticipated to be too sharp for the galloping gelding. The switch to a longer and more undulating track is expected to suit Ben Pauling's charge and we may not have seen the best of him yet.
Similar comments apply to the progressive Jango Baie, trained by Nicky Henderson. The gelding was campaigned over two to two and a half miles as a novice chaser and was a surprise winner of the two mile Grade 1 Arkle Trophy Chase at last year's Cheltenham Festival. Stepped up in trip for his seasonal reappearance, he was an easy winner of the Grade 2 1965 Chase at Ascot and finished only half-a-length adrift of The Jukebox Man in the King George.
Elsewhere in the line-up, Haiti Couleurs will be hoping to emulate the exploits of Native River, who also won a Welsh Grand National en route to Gold Cup success. Rebecca Curtis' gelding won the Irish Grand National as a novice chaser last season before adding the Welsh equivalent to his CV. His only disappointment came when stepped
into Grade 1 company in the Betfair Chase, an effort attributed to a quick turn-around from seasonal reappearance.
SELECTION – THE JUKEBOX MAN – 4/1
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