2016 Gold Cup

[Old Vic]

[Old Vic]

[Old Vic]

[MrMcGoldrick]

Apparently Willie is now thrilled with Vautour saying his work this week has been much better

[Old Vic]

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[Brital]

If Vautour is working as well as Willy says then there can only be one winner of the Gold Cup.
His Cheltenham form is impressive, he nearly beat Cue Card despite it being his first run. He will come on for that and as the younger horse you'd expect him to improve leaps & bounds.
The stats back him up as well, reading the Weatherby's guide, those trying for a second time if unsuccessful first time have a terrible record, that rules out Djakadam & RTR.
Horses who have run on heavy going that season also do not win that rules out DC & DP.
10 year olds don't win it so CC is out.
Have put on a fair wedge but am tempted to go in again. The stars appear to be aligning!

[Faugheen_Machine]

If Vautour is working as well as Willy says then there can only be one winner of the Gold Cup.
His Cheltenham form is impressive, he nearly beat Cue Card despite it being his first run. He will come on for that and as the younger horse you'd expect him to improve leaps & bounds.
The stats back him up as well, reading the Weatherby's guide, those trying for a second time if unsuccessful first time have a terrible record, that rules out Djakadam & RTR.
Horses who have run on heavy going that season also do not win that rules out DC & DP.
10 year olds don't win it so CC is out.
Have put on a fair wedge but am tempted to go in again. The stars appear to be aligning!

I also think he'll run well brital but he has ran twice over fences this season.

Ruling a horse out because he's run on heavy ground is a poor stat, coincidental at best imo.

[Yeehaa]

I also think he'll run well brital but he has ran twice over fences this season.

Ruling a horse out because he's run on heavy ground is a poor stat, coincidental at best imo.

More can get bottomed on heavy ?

[Brital]

Hi FM,
I wasn't sure what to make of the Weatherby's guide but the one race it seemed to click for was the GC.
It has distilled the runners in an easy to follow logical way.

"Horses to have run on officially heavy ground that season are 0/65 this century"
Seems fairly convincing to me, maybe a 3m race in those conditions takes more out of a horse than we appreciate?

Vautour fits the profile of a typical Gold Cup winner to a tee. Back that up with the stables high regard for him and he seems the stand out choice. Can someone save me from myself :-)

[mayo]

Many Clouds paid a compliment to Smad Place there

[MrMcGoldrick]

Many Clouds paid a compliment to Smad Place there

Been thinking about something else that promotes Smad Place in the pecking order, purely straight line analysis but here it is,
Smad Place gave First Lieutenant 8lbs and a 13 length beating in the Hennessey then the latter finished within a length, and closing, of Don Poli off levels in the Lexus, so strictly connecting those two runs DP has around 5 lengths to make up on SM. Also when you watch that race DP appeared to be running out of steam at the end, putting doubt in my mind that he will comfortably get this trip and be finishing the best, as many suggest.

[Morning Glory]

The ground's plenty dry enough, he's the highest-rated horse in training, that's help me make the decision and I won't be changing my mind now," said Cooper.

"It wasn't an easy decision, I wouldn't have waited this long if it was," he added. "If you get it wrong you'd be kicking yourself for six months, but Gotrdon has him in top shape and now we go out to prove all the doubters wrong who say he doesn't handle Cheltenham."

Asked to elaborate on how Don Cossack is to ride, Cooper said: "He has a lot of class and a huge stride, he covers a lot of ground, especially on nice ground. He's a different horse on nice ground and when he gets jumping he's hard to lay up with. Hopefully he'll be in that sort of form on Friday."

'He's bouncing'

Speaking immediately afterwards, trainer Gordon Elliott said: "I'm delighted Bryan's going to ride him. It's a big help, he knows the horse well, so the more the ground dries out the more chance he has now.

"He's in great form and that's what you want to see when you bring them over here [from Ireland]. He's eating and drinking; he's bouncing."

[Old Vic]

Road to Riches left in the Gold Cup.

Probably decided to dodge Vautour.

Hope it happens as I backed him for longer race a long time ago but not everyone will be happy.

[loveracing]

Road to Riches left in the Gold Cup.

Probably decided to dodge Vautour.

Hope it happens as I backed him for longer race a long time ago but not everyone will be happy.

The ground will surley suit if no rain.