Ten of the last 11 winners of the Paddy Power Gold Cup have been either six or seven years old, and the days when established handicap chasers like Dublin Flyer and Bradbury Star could see off the younger, less exposed runners seem to be gone. Second-season chasers are the group to focus on and the Rewards4Racing Novice Handicap Chase at the Festival back in March could prove to be the most significant piece of form.
Present View, the narrow favourite for today’s race, raced off a mark of 137 there, beating Attaglance, who remains a maiden over fences despite several creditable runs in valuable events, by half a length. Attaglance also raced off 137, while Buywise, who finished seven lengths behind the winner in fifth, was getting 3lb from the pair of them.
That does not tell the whole story of the race, though, as Attaglance struggled for running room in the closing stages and Buywise (2.30) lost all chance with two major blunders in the closing stages which cost him all of the distance by which he was beaten and more. The concerns about his jumping remain but are factored into his price at around 8-1, and Evan Williams’s seven-year-old looks to have more talent and potential than any of his rivals if his fencing holds together.
Cheltenham 1.50 After a difficult week Neil Mulholland will hope that The Druid’s Nephew can help his yard to move on from the debacle of The Young Master’s ‘win’ in last Saturday’s feature chase when he was not eligible to line up. The BHA formally disqualified The Young Master on Thursday and fined Mulholland £250 for a mistake that really should have been picked up by the computer systems used for making entries, but The Druid’s Nephew is both qualified for today’s race and a worthy favourite after a straightforward success on his return to action at Huntingdon last month. This is only his second start for the up-and-coming Mulholland, who has an excellent 33% strike-rate and shows a £28.00 profit to a £1 level stakes at Cheltenham over the last five years.
Wetherby 2.05 What A Good Night was a winner off 83 at Uttoxeter in October on his first start since joining Dan Skelton and has been hiked up to 107 here having fallen when in complete control of a race at Southwell in the interim. He raced off the same mark when trained by Nigel Twiston-Davies, however, and still looks to have something more to give for his new stable.
Cheltenham 3.00 Pineau De Re, last season’s Grand National winner, returns to action over timber only 3lb higher than when a close third in the Pertemps Final at the Festival here back in March. He was only fifth in this race last year, though off an 8lb lower mark, and may need the outing today in a fiercely competitive event. Big Easy, the Cesarewitch winner, will also attract plenty of interest but Fighter Jet could be the one to back. A small field did not play to his strengths last time out but Alan King’s hurdler has a very fair weight on the balance of his form and will appreciate what should be a stronger gallop today.
Wetherby 3.15 Pertuis has won seven times on the Flat and. while he remains a maiden over hurdles, he has shown more than enough to suggest that his current mark is not beyond him. Micky Hammond’s gelding was seven lengths adrift of Lightening Rod in a strong race over this course and distance two weeks ago and is just 1lb higher here, and his hold-up style will be suited by the likely strong pace with Circus Star in the field.
Cheltenham 3.35 Golden Doyen sets the standard for several inexperienced juvenile hurdlers to aim at and should still have scope for improvement on his third start over hurdles. Some very interesting prospects are in opposition, though, including Hargam, who is by Sinndar out of a Galileo mare and looked useful in a limited campaign on the Flat in France for Alain de Royer-Dupré. John Quinn has few equals when it comes to finding and developing young hurdlers, however, and L’Aigle Royal, a summer recruit from Guillaume Macaire’s yard in the south of France, could be another. He made short work of what was a small but quite competitive field at Sedgefield on his British debut and can follow up here on the way to even better things.
