My review of the Gold Cup

Again from the blog - I don't care where you read it, just read it!!!

Hi,

Having watched the Cheltenham Gold Cup again on the replays, it really became apparent what a shocking race this years Gold Cup was. We had a horse rated 152 winning the pinnacle of National Hunt Racing, beating a handicapper by a short head, and the third home was a rogue of the highest order in The Giant Bolster.

To put the race into context, I think its only fair to look at this seasons Grand National, in which we have a certain horse called Tidal Bay lining up as top weight who finished close up at Chepstow in the Welsh National off a mark of 163.

Tidal Bay is rated a stone higher than the Gold Cup winner, a stone. The BHA have his mark at 166 and rather than targetting him at the Gold Cup they are going to run him in a handicap off top weight, which even with the compressed handicap, means he is racing off a mark of 161. He is due to run in the Grand National off a mark 9lbs better than the mark given to Lord Windermere before the Gold Cup.

To put into context how bad the Gold Cup was, the top ELEVEN horses in the Grand National have handicap marks higher than that given to Lord Windermere prior to Cheltenham. Potentially a quarter of the Grand National field are rated higher than the Gold Cup winner was!!! 1 in 4!!!

Hang on though, coming to the last a horse rated 180 and another rated 177 were right in the mix, so what happened? They should have pulled well clear of the field, they had 20lbs in hand on the winner, second and third horses!!

I am of the belief that Bobs Worth ran far below his winning effort last season, and I still believe that Silviniaco Conti doesn't really stay further than 3 miles as well as he would need to, if he was to win a Gold Cup. He doesn't have the class of Kauto Star, and I think he isn't as hardened as that horse either.

Simply put, the two big guns failed to fire.

However, I really want to say a massive well done to the connections of the first three horses home, firstly for believing they could run well in the Gold Cup, and secondly for letting them take their chances in the biggest race. They got what they richly deserved and we saw a superb and controversial finish to the big race.

I want to say how well I think the Wylie's have done to not appeal what looked a poor decision not to overthrow the result, it takes courage and conviction to let the decision stand without appeal, and in a way it shows what great decorum there is in National Hunt Racing. It is far from the way Hannon Jnr et al reacted when Sky Lantern didn't get a decision in the stewards.

I just hope Tidal Bay can repay their actions with a win in the Grand National. Now that would be a story!!

 

Agree with the BW handicap mark. As for the ground, it's amazing to see difference in times after the watering. That made as much difference to the eventual Gold Cup as anything else might have done.

 

If SC couldnt stay and doesnt stay further than 3m as was the case- Cue Card most certainly wouldnt not even on that ground!

 

They only watered it wednesday night- but funny coz Nicholls and Henderson both got what they wished for but they are probably now wishing they had slightly watered it the night before!!

 

I believe SC ran a race to beat Bob's Worth, going for home early to get BW at it. He then got passed by 3 out and out stayers as he had injected his pace too far out. Before the race I believed this was the best way to win it but in hindsight maybe if SC had been held on to for a little longer he would have had the stamina to get up the hill

 

This is the thing I do not really get though, compare this years Gold Cup to the last one that was run on 'good' ground (Synchronised) and you see that this year was much slower than that one (7 seconds) and yet the front two in the market didn't get up the hill from the last. They didn't go an amazingly fast pace (given that the second horse made it for much of the way) but it still turned into a slog up the hill.

Really doesn't make sense to me, am I being stupid?

 

Whichever way one looks at it, this year's Gold Cup, and last year's, and the one before, were a long way off being vintage. If we get a good'un coming through next year it should be home and dried.

 

I think City has a good point, the connections of Silviniaco Conti may have shot themselves in the foot. Everyone and his dog thought Bob's Worth the one to beat. Get to the line in front of him and you win. There is only so much fuel in the tank, and I think they spent up big well before they should have. Sure they put Bob to the sword, but they left themselves at the mercy of the wolves chasing them. Had he been ridden in a more patient manner, I think he would have done a better job up the hill. There is no way I can say that he'd have won, I do believe though, that his chances were diminished by the way he was handled.

Bob just wasn't himself. Don't know why. I do know that we can't place any of those who ran this year, in the same class as Kauto Star. It's chalk and cheese stuff. We might have to get used to the standard we saw this year, stars don't come along all that often.

 

Bobs Worth won the RSA Chase and Gold Cup and everyone praises his Cheltenham form. Let's not forget Lord Windermere did exactly the same. Jim Culloty's horse has a 100% strike rate at Cheltenham and it is one of those course where course form is a major factor.

 

my view on the Gold Cup is this - we have been spolit by a vintage era which flowed from Best Mate's 3 in a row into the Kauto Star v Denman rivalry. the jury was always out on Bob's Worth and last week confirmed that he was merely a good horse and not a great one.

I have no idea who will even be favourite for the Gold Cup in 2015 - the 3 mile chasing division is probably now at its weakest for about a decade.

 

I agree about the second being a handicapper and the third being a rogue, the handicapper is a top handicapper who has improved this season and the rogue finally got the ground his trainer had be screaming about for the first time in a Gold Cup, to be fair his trainer was adamant he wouldnt be out the 3. The winner was better than his mark, Cullotys horses have been off all season and just came right in the nick of time, he was a Grade 1 winning novice who was always thought high class in Ireland.

Yes, Bobs Worth ran nowhere near his race, maybe those tough races have caught up with him and he is not made of iron after all, the ground might not have been ideal but I couldnt put it just down to the ground, was too bad to be true the way he came up the hill like he was drunk. Bobs Worth from last year would have beat them on the ground, its as simple as that.

 

Just read this from the bbc racing website posted by a certain AS.


The Gold Cup produced a very mysterious finish and I am convinced the first three horses past the post finished on quicker ground to Bobs Worth and Silvinaco Conti who were the first two over the last and looked set to fight it out.

Unbelieeeveable assessment of the Gold Cup finish.

 

I don't see Lord Windermere winning the Gold Cup again next season....Dynaste may be the one if they opt for this race next season along with Cue Card if he gets over his injury problems. Also Champagne Fever in the future along with a few other good novice chasers...

 

With such a bunched finish in this year's Gold Cup I'd definitely be looking at this season's novices for next year's glory. The RSA winner trained by the lovely Rebecca Curtis or Champagne Fever at 20/1 look the pick for me. The Fever in particular if he's a 3 miler, which he seems to be, ran a monstrous race to only get beaten a nose in the Arkle.

Regarding the inflated ratings we've seen, this seems to be a continuation of the ripple effect caused from the Kauto Star / Denman / Master Minded era after which horses automatically got allocated 175+ by good old Phil Smith, when they won a championship chase at Cheltenham...