Mossbank was given a terrible ride yesterday, and that's my pocket talking! I forgave him a poor ride on New Alco, but to relicate it almost exactly a couple of days later defies belief. At least Inglis Drever can win no matter who rides him – a great little horse and I'll admit to a tear in my eye. Of course that may have been because I would have won far more had Kasbah Bliss won! It's a measure of an enduring love with the festival that had me cheering on Inglis up the hill anyway.
Today let's just focus on the Gold Cup. I've always liked using athletics analogies for racing. For me the race comes down to, say, a Paula Radcliffe type (Denman) against, say, a Geeta Wami type (Kauto Star). One of them grinds and grinds and wears all but the best down. The other sits and waits and the kicks past whatever brave soul has set the race up for her. Paula can't win on the track, but can win on a tough cross country course, or over the marathon trip. Today the question for me is – will the Gold Cup resemble a track race or a tough cross country race?
Go back say ten years and the answer was obvious. The Gold Cup was for stayers. King George for the track bullies and the Gold Cup for the cross country types. Recently a dearth of decent stayers has allowed the likes of Kicking King to win both races. Now we have a real match. Maybe the Gold Cup will reclaim its reputation as a staying race first and foremost.
So, on that basis 2/1 Denman looks too big to me. Even allowing for Kauto Star to have been there, done that, and for Ruby choosing Kauto, the best I could do would be 5/4 Kauto and 6/4 Denman.
The other athletics analogy I'd draw is Coe V Ovett and a European Championship etched on my teenage mind – where the pair spent the race so obsessed with each other that some bloke called Jurgen Straub came and beat them both!
£500 Challenge
Denman £20 win at 2/1
It wasn't Jurgen Straub - he split Coe and Ovett in a 1500m final. It was Olaf Beyer.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I thought I read that pretty well!!
Decent Cheltenham - the challenge bets doubled their money. can't say I did quite so well overall!
Great call Tooting you had it spot on !..... I had the p/pot going onto Kauto, Denman and Halcon Genelardais...Talk about the devil on your shoulder hoping for carnage and Halcon placing ,still it paid enough to make profit on the meeting ,that and Ballyfitz.That cancelled day took the edge of it though,too much racing over two days for me. Jonah
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