Cheltenham Gold Cup Preview

3.20 BETFRED CHELTENHAM GOLD CUP CHASE GRADE 1 (CLASS 1) (5yo+)
Winner £313,225 18 runners 3m2f110y Good CH4
Silviniaco Conti has been in top form this season winning the Betfair Chase and King George Vi Chase in good style. On that form he is the one to beat. The big concern for the Paul Nicholls horse is his Cheltenham form where he has failed to win in three attempts and looked to be struggling up the hill in last year's renewal.Djakadam is currently the second favourite for Willie Mullins and Ruby Walsh but will need to improve on his best form to win this. He won well last time on the heavy ground at Gowran Park but was 28l behind Many Clouds in the Hennessy before that. Also fell on his only start at Cheltenham in last year's JLT Novices Chase.

Many Clouds has done nothing wrong this season, winning all three of his starts including the Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury. He followed that up by winning the BetBright Cup at Cheltenham over 3m1f when giving 8lbs to Smad Place. Carlingford Lough who won a Grade 1 3m chase at Leopardstown last time out but has form to find with Road To Riches from their meeting in the Lexus Chase over Christmas. Tony McCoy rides. Coneygree is the top British novice chaser this season and comes here rather than the RSA Chase. He won a cakewalk Feltham Chase at Kempton on Boxing Day and has decent claims in this. He would appreciate some give in the ground. LORD WINDERMERE has won at the festival for the past two seasons. He landed this race last year and the RSA Chase back in 2013. He has been trained for this and is possibly several pounds better here than his form from Ireland suggests. Don't dismiss.

Bobs Worth is 3-4 at the festival and won this in good fashion in 2013. He hasn't run up to the same form since. May have chance but wouldn't want too much rain overnight. Holywell looked a top chaser in the making last season when winning a valuable handicap at the festival and a Grade 1 novice event at Aintree. Has struggled for form this year but won a class 2 chase very well at Kelso last month. Has a good record around Cheltenham, winning his two starts at the course. Road To Riches has progressed well this season for Noel Meade and comes here on the back of winning the Lexus Chase at Leopardstown. Stays and should go well for Bryan Cooper. Sam Winner is another improver over fences this season. He beat The Druids Nephew in a Grade 3 event at Cheltenham in November and finished third behind Road To Riches and On His Own in the Lexus. Of the rest Smad Place possibly has the best each way value. He goes into the race fresh and seems to like it around Cheltenham.

If the real Silviniaco turns up and finally puts his best foot forward around here then its a one horse race, he has by some way the best form in the book and if the trainer is to be believed and his problems have been ironed out then the rest are scrapping for place money.Many Clouds has solid form but has to step up again on what hes actually achieved on the course,he will like the ground and the trip is no issue but its a tall ask to see him being the winner.Cant have Djakadam at any price,good win admittedly at Gowran under a lump of weight but this is different gravy.Road to Riches,Sam Winner,Boston Bob,On His Own and Carlingford Lough have close formlines,on good ground id give Noel Meades horse a live chance but the others don't have the class.Lord Windermere won last years renewal but we surely cant get anything like that again,yes he loves this place but the 2014 race fell into his lap and lightning will not strike twice.Coneygree brings solid novice form to the table,he dipped his toe in against some seasoned handicappers last time and whilst his win was pleasing in manner the barebones form isn't anything flash,at least he'll guarantee a solid pace.Bobs Worth is a pale imitation of the horse he was two seasons ago,he's never really recovered from his lung bursting win in 2013 on desperate ground.Holywell adores this place but is he really good enough to win this? His egg and spoon race win at Kelso tells you nothing and your taking on trust that hes fired by the Festival again.Smad Place isn't good enough on what weve seen and The Giant Bolster, although on the premises in the last three renewals, has to turn around some wide margin defeats by quite a few of these to even warrant a mention.For me a race that revolves around one horse, SILVINIACO CONTI, if he turns up its game over,5/1 is value of the season.

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I had first and last. Had Coneygree anti-post after he won the King George. Just wish I had a bit more on him. Thought he had a very good chance, just got put off a bit by his lack of experience/ runs over fences.

Maybe Silviniaco Conti would be suited by a drop in trip at Cheltenham and go for the Ryanair Chase?

Tremendous performance by the winner, total fairytale.To make all in this event takes one mighty effort by both horse and rider,he jumper for fun,answered his pilots every call and was a deserved winner.He had half the field in trouble by halfway and he dragged the remainder off the bridle one by one going down the back second spin.Was praying that Djakadam and Road to Riches didn't get to him over the last as it would he been a travesty after all the donkey work hed done. Coneygree leaves nothing behind and this sort of horse, one that gets carried out on his shield after every run, can sometimes sour very quickly, he had an awfully hard race and it will be interesting to see if he can get over it, recent winners like Long Run and Bobs Worth seemed to have left the rest of their careers on the Cheltenham Hill, hope he isn't the same.
Conti had no excuses this time, all was in place for a big run but he was struggling six out and was never going to get to grips with the principals. He looks like a total flat track performer,I will be amazed if we see him run at another Festival. The second and third have run with great credit, Djakadam looks like the type to come back for the next two or three seasons and Road to Riches ran a screamer on ground that had probably turned against him,if they both recover from their efforts then they can come back for another crack next season.Who knows,we might have the first three from this years race plus Don Poli and Vautour.