After my other blog piece earlier on in the week I think it’s only fair I do another one, this time though taking a more in depth focus on some of the sports.
As mentioned, the Cheltenham Festival is now looming upon us, and with entries now starting to come out we can start to work out who could win what race.
I’ll start with the big one, the Gold Cup, which will take place on the Friday, and there’s a real Irish dominance at the top of the market for this field.
It’s no surprise I guess with Irish trained horses simply being too good at recent festivals, and on paper most of them also look very solid, the exception being Henry De Bromhead’s Minella Indo of course who ran poorly in the King George.
There’s just one issue with writing him off entirely though, he won the race last year, and his preparation then wasn’t exactly the best when he fell at Leopardstown in December.
At a price of 8/1, (he won at 9s last year), there’s plenty of value in that, and if you take that recent run out of it he did make a good re-appearance when going down five lengths to Frodon in the Irish Champion Chase at Down Royal in October.
Frodon ran credibly in the King George but the horse who caught the eye in that race at Down Royal was the 2nd placed Galvin for Gordon Elliott, who was unlucky not to win, but made amends next time out back under regular jockey Davy Russell when beating another Gold Cup contender in A Plus Tard by a short head.
If he battled like that against Frodon I have no doubt he probably would have won, and out of all the challengers from across the sea in this race I think he’s definitely the strongest, and he’s available at an early price of 9/2.
To say A Plus Tard won the Betfair Chase at Haydock in November is an understatement, he thrashed his nearest rival that day by 22 lengths and rightly sits at the top of the market currently at 7/2.
His stablemate Minella Indo just about pipped him last year and Galvin did the same to him last time out, but he’s a very consistent horse and there’s no reason what so ever he won’t show up in March and run into the placings at least.
Al Boum Photo knows a thing or two about winning this race as well, the 10-year-old goes looking for his third win in the race and his preparation has never changed in the build-up for this.
He has four Savills Chase wins to his name now, and still showed signs he’s loving the game which is the most important more than anything.
It’ll be a tough mountain to climb again to beat some of these younger contenders, but he very rarely runs a bad race and is a credit to connections who could also saddle interesting runner Asterion Forlonge, who at the very least would’ve finished 2nd in the King George if he didn’t fall at the last.
Tornado Flyer went on to benefit from that fall and win, and Willie Mullins has a real strong set of horses looking as though they are going to line up for this season’s renewal.
I wish I could sit here and say that this side of the Irish Sea has loads of ammunition to hit back, but our hopes all seem to be pinned on Dan Skelton’s Protektorat this time around.
He took to fences well last season with wins at Carlisle and Cheltenham, before losing his way with runs at Wincanton and Kelso before being freshened up and landing a Grade 1 at Aintree at their Grand National meeting.
A close 2nd at this track in the middle of November where he was seeing out the 2m 4f trip very well prompted his trainer to step him up to 3m for the first time in his career around Aintree, where he ran out a 25 length winner over old boy Native River.
At 10/1 and still only being seven, it’s no doubt he could well be a star in the making, and if he’s up for the challenge then there’s no reason I can find which could stop him from winning this, the softer the ground the better he might fare as well.
To sum it all up then, I think Galvin is the top horse in this race and looks like on recent runs he’s a danger to some of the horses who have contested this race the past few seasons.
Minella Indo, A Plus Tard and Minella Indo are all consistent horses who always set the standard, and Galvin would have to be at his very best to beat them of course, because all three of them won’t misfire on the big day.
So far this season I think A Plus Tard could be the best out of the three, mainly because Minella Indo has to put that bad run behind him, and Al Boum Photo is trying to win this race as a 10-year-old which looks like it could be hard going to do so.
Protektorat is England’s best chance of winning this race, and despite not having ran against horses of such calibre before, it’s still only early days, and the Skeltons will lose nothing by running him in this race, because win or lose he is still a horse for the future.
If there’s one horse that I would love to see turn up here for this race then that would be Champ.
His win in the Long Walk Hurdle at Ascot was scintillating, and I wouldn’t blame Nicky Henderson if he kept him over hurdles but, the engine he has and the ability to just glide through the gears seamlessly can be a big asset over these longer distances and I’m sure he’ll go close in whatever race he goes in.
One race down, many more to come, keep an eye out in other blog pieces for more Cheltenham previews because they’ll be coming in thick and fast now.
Also, there’s currently no sponsor for the race still, and I’m seriously considering putting forward a bid for it, Goldy McGold Cup has a nice ring to it doesn’t it?
Top shout – Galvin.
Mr.Consistents – Al Boum Photo, A Plus Tard, Minella Indo.
Unexposed types – Protektorat, Tornado Flyer, Asterion Forlonge.
Horse I’d love to see run – Champ.
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