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The 2025 Bet365 Gold Cup Handicap Chase

Ian_Davies

Ian_Davies

Apprentice
Joined
May 7, 2023
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I was SO tempted to call this the Whitbread in the thread title.

I normally avoid naming bookmakers who have restricted me, or closed me down, like the plague on a point of general principle.

But "the Whitbread" is one of those races which has only ever existed via sponsorship plus, in allowing me to separate her from £8,000 of her £7.7 billion wealth before directing her minions to limit me, Denise Coates treated me better than some.

I can't see the weights, but I can see the betting so....time for a thread!

Ante-Post Betting: https://www.oddschecker.com/horse-r...al-hunt/bet365-gold-cup-handicap-chase/winner
 
At very very first glance, Henry's might be interesting at 40s, assuming a 2 week break is enough. There have been some (limited) signs the BP yard might be edging out of whatever appears to have been wrong.
 
On holiday tomorrow for 3 weeks, so I'll put my initial thoughts on now.
Impaire et Passe, is the one that interests me. For a horse that has 6 grade 1s + counting, I don't think 158 is too harsh. Stepping up in trip, could very easily unlock further improvement, against limited rivals.
Have visions of him lobbing along + cantering home, like Tidal Bay did in this race.
Whether he runs is anyones guess. He does. I'm on.
20s best price.
 
I've done my initial trawl and taken a wee ante-post nibble at Victtorino at 33/1.

I'm not sure about its stamina but I am sure it is well handicapped. If this has been the target since earlier in the season then they've got it in on a nice mark on my figures but I don't know if it will run.

I can imagine Mullins keeping Grangeclare West in the race as it will push a lot of the others out of the weights with, if they all stand their ground, which I don't see happening, a maximum of 11 running off their mark. Mullins has no fewer than eight of those eleven so he can effectively frame the race to maximise his chances of taking the trainers' title. He could easily ensure that the highest-rated Skelton horse, Sail Away, is 8lbs out of the weights.

That's certainly what I would do!

I wouldn't want to get involved with any of the Mullinses until I see the jockey arrangements and, while I can see the sense [for him] in manipulating the race, I would hate it to take the competitiveness out of it.

Still, I suppose if you're sitting with four aces in your hand you're going to hold until everybody else folds.
 
Couldn't put you off it, Maurice, at the price.

Only 2lb higher than when winning at Ascot, still only a 7yo, has stamina to prove and half of Mullins's yard to beat, but it's never a 33/1 shot if it runs.
 
Grangeclare West
Minella Cocooner
Threeunderthrufive
Dancing City
High Class Hero
Victtorino
Monbeg Genius
Lombron
Olympic Man
Resplendent Grey
O’Moore Park
Goshen
Spanish Harlem
Collectors Item
Chosen Witness
King’s Threshold
Klarc Kent
Hoe Joly Smoke
Knockanore

Final field - betting link when I see one.
 
Is Willie being naughty keeping Grangeclare West in the race to keep the weights down for more fancied runners from the yard ? Lombron has something to find on form , but is young and open to improvement and 33's / 25's looks too big to me carrying 10-02 from a mark of 142, I would think he could be one to shorten considerably. Inexperienced over fences but we have seen novices run well in these big handicaps.
 
Might And Power said:
Is Willie being naughty keeping Grangeclare West in the race to keep the weights down for more fancied runners from the yard ? Lombron has something to find on form , but is young and open to improvement and 33's / 25's looks too big to me carrying 10-02 from a mark of 142, I would think he could be one to shorten considerably. Inexperienced over fences but we have seen novices run well in these big handicaps.
Click to expand...
If Willie was being naughty he'd have kept extra runners in to mean the Skelton horse didn't get in.
 
I have 5 Mullins' horses on a radar, and wondering if Klarc Kent will get in again. Will have to wait for jockeys assignment to see what's what.
 
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Desert Orchid said:
I've done my initial trawl and taken a wee ante-post nibble at Victtorino at 33/1.

I'm not sure about its stamina but I am sure it is well handicapped. If this has been the target since earlier in the season then they've got it in on a nice mark on my figures but I don't know if it will run.

I can imagine Mullins keeping Grangeclare West in the race as it will push a lot of the others out of the weights with, if they all stand their ground, which I don't see happening, a maximum of 11 running off their mark. Mullins has no fewer than eight of those eleven so he can effectively frame the race to maximise his chances of taking the trainers' title. He could easily ensure that the highest-rated Skelton horse, Sail Away, is 8lbs out of the weights.

That's certainly what I would do!

I wouldn't want to get involved with any of the Mullinses until I see the jockey arrangements and, while I can see the sense [for him] in manipulating the race, I would hate it to take the competitiveness out of it.

Still, I suppose if you're sitting with four aces in your hand you're going to hold until everybody else folds.
Click to expand...
If Victtorino runs like nearly all of Venetia's horses recently it will disappear out of the back of the screen and lose a few pounds off its handicap rating ready for a return to Ascot in the autumn. It's worth a small bet and she has quite a few running at Bangor this evening which may do a bit better. She's had just one winner - Intimate on Midlands National Day - since the final week of February though she didn't run many in the dry spell after Cheltenham. Tanganyika ran really well to finish 2nd to Mr Vango at Uttoxeter and hasn't been declared here presumably because it needs soft or heavy ground. Welsh National horse maybe?

I checked her season's stats and prize money is good thanks to Royale Pagaille, Djelo (x2) and L'Homme Presse in graded races and Victtorino's two Ascot wins, but winners and runners are down on most years. Morning Air, rated 84, is an interesting entry for the Chester Cup.
 
Lovely sunny Friday morning in Sydney. Anzac day as well.
Looked at the field over a morning coffee, + I've come to the conclusion that that rogue Goshen is a tad overpriced at 50s. I'm guessing they've targeted this race for him. Has ran respectively this season.
 
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I took 33/1 Victtorino at the five-day stage and am happy to have done so. Threeunderthrufive also looks overpriced. Olympic Man would also seem overpriced but jockey bookings suggest not a great deal is expected of him compared to the other stable runners. Townend has opted for High Class Hero who has the potential to improve away from everything but he wouldn’t have been able to do the weight on any of the yard’s runners below him in the handicap so he wouldn’t have been able to ride Olympic Man but all the other jockeys would and they have opted for something else. Minella Cocooner was arguably unlucky in the Grand National that his saddle slipped early in the race but it’s hard to argue that he would have beaten Nick Rockett.

High Class Hero gets the vote as the main bet with a saver on Threeunderthrufive to back up the Victtorino bet.
 
She's never a spring trainer, but, despite that, he's never a 33/1 chance.

I also have a bit of double carpet about the 7yo who feels like he's been chasing forever and was probably a novice as a yearling! 😂
 
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