Ridiculous to say 'he would have won the Ryanair'. Would of, could of, should of. Cue Card turned up and served it up to a small but select field. Flemenstar isn't a 3 miler so has every right to improve for stepping back in trip but the 3 mile chase division is weak imho. Bob's Worth is the only star after 2 facile wins this season. Potentially Conti as well who looks clear of Long Run and as such SDC. The rest of them really aren't great and that goes for the Gold Cup 2nd and 3rd. The form doesn't stack up for Flemenstar. Not one bit. His impressive 7L victory over Big Zeb looks poor when you compare it to the other 4 of his last 5 runs, beaten 15L, 16L, 20L and 26L. The form ahead of Rathlin has been done no favours whatsoever. He beat a hopelessly out of shape SDC at the start of the season on heavy going. SDC has beaten little of note in his time.
Cue Card's form is rock solid. He is sickeningly underrated (still!?) and the amount of people who napped First Lieutenant on Thursday's thread was daft. That one wasn't just beaten, he was battered out of sight. The more I look at the form of both Cue Card and Flemenstar the more I begin to think that this could be a facile victory for Colin Tizzard's charge.
One of these horses is a Champion, in the top 3 or 4 chasers in training. The other is a heart-warming story.