“Not the pace to get involved” was the verdict when Bouvreuil (1.50) was a respectable fifth in the BetVictor Gold Cup at Cheltenham last month. On the face of it a drier surface is against him for Saturday’s big race back at jump racing’s headquarters but the Caspian Caviar Gold Cup takes place on Cheltenham’s more testing New Course and that may make the necessary difference for Paul Nicholls’ charge.
It will also help that he has a run under his belt this time and Bouvreuil looks well placed to make an impact here. He ran with credit in another race that ought to be influential, when second in the novice handicap chase at the last Festival.
Aged five, rising six, Bouvreuil should be capable of new career peaks this season. With Barry Geraghty taking over from Gavin Sheehan in the saddle, everything seems in place for a big run and he is a deserving favourite at around 6-1. Nicholls believes this drier surface will suit him better than the rain-soaked surface of last month.
Buywise always has place chances in races like this but he does not seem very good at the business of winning and the likely fast pace of this race could well lead to one or two jumping errors. Village Vic will surely go well again on the front end for a long way but is a stone and a half higher in the weights than when winning this last year.
Frodon, Nicholls’ other runner, was let down by his jumping last month and that could again be a concern here in a race that asks a lot of a four-year-old. Thomas Brown looks a more credible threat, having achieved a new career high when scoring at Aintree on his reappearance.
2.25 Cheltenham In the five-year-old Wholestone’s last three runs he has been beaten only by Peregrine Run, who was a length too good in a Grade Two here last month. Time may show that to be smart form and Wholestone has the most convincing profile of several unexposed sorts here. West Approach, who has chased him home in his last two runs, may again be second-best.
2.40 Doncaster Peregrine Run was a winner for the low-profile Kildare trainer Peter Fahey, who sends Bay Of Freedom for this Grade Two novice chase. O O Seven will be a hot favourite on the basis of his Cheltenham win but that form may have limited value and this step back up to three miles is not certain to suit. Bay Of Freedom, who finished just ahead of Bellshill in the Champion Bumper last year, has taken a big step forward since going over fences, landing a Listed chase by eight lengths last time. At 9-1 he is oddly overlooked in the betting.
3.00 Cheltenham This is a much better opportunity for My Tent Or Yours than the Haydock race on bad ground in which he made his reappearance. But he has not exactly got the winning habit, being winless over hurdles for almost three years, and it cannot be a good idea to take 11-8 about a nine-year-old in a Grade Two in such circumstances, especially with the ever-present fear that he may wreck his chance by over-racing in the first mile. If the Tent sags again, The New One could land this race for the third time in four years. The autumn and early winter are usually the time to catch him and he ought to be fit, a reappearance having been expected for some weeks.
3.15 Doncaster Four times a winner in October, Cliffs Of Dover should have more to offer on this return from a 43-day absence. His achievements easily outstrip those of his rivals here and his limits are as yet unknown.
3.35 Cheltenham There was a suspicion that Midnight Tour might be well handicapped for her first run since joining Alan King from David Loder and she duly hosed up at Hereford. An 11lb rise for that is significant but may not be enough to anchor her, in view of how impressive she was on that first outing since May. Richard Johnson returns to the saddle.
