Cheltenham Preview Week 4

Having previewed the main race of the first three days of the meeting today this betting blog is going to look forward to the highlight of the meeting, the Gold Cup. This is the highlight of the jump racing calendar and this year looks to be a race to savour.

The market is headed by the current champion Long Run at around the 2/1 mark followed by the legendary Kauto Star at 4/1. In last year’s race the young pretender Long Run comfortably outpointed the old warriors Denman and Kauto Star in a thrilling race to announce himself on the big stage. This year however it has been a different story with Kauto star finding a new lease of life with victories in the betfair chase and King George Chase at Kempton.

On both occasions he has beaten Long Run on merit and has seemed to have rediscovered his old form. This year connections have seemed to have employed different tactics by letting Kauto star bowl along in front and he has really seemed to enjoy himself out in front. He has been almost foot perfect in both contests but, more importantly, his slick jumping has put his rivals under pressure and they haven’t been able to respond at the business end of the race.
My feeling on the race is that he maybe won’t be allowed his own way in front as the often prominent Midnight Chase is in the race and he likes to grind his rivals into the ground, maybe setting the race up for the younger Long Run to retain his title.

Of the others connections seem to be favouring the RSA Chase, with the novice Grand Crus and the vibes coming out of the Jonjo ONeill yard for Sycronised don’t appear to be to strong and my impression is that they are targeting the Grand National.

It looks at this stage as the race could well cut up and we could be left with eight or nine runners. My idea of a big bet at this stage would be to back Midnight Chase each way @ around the 16/1 market with the firms that are offering the non-runner no bet concession. I can see him going off around the 8/1 mark on the day and maybe galloping his rivals into submission at his favourite course.