The Road to the 2017 Cheltenham Gold Cup

Diamond Geezer said:
This all follows a statement by Colin Tizzard that the heat has gone from Thistlecrack's leg and that they plan to rescan it. Just folk getting over excited.
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Scan showed same damage as before, hoping to have horse back on course by Christmas


Since Sunday morning to 1.30pm today, £22,124 was traded on Thistlecrack for the Gold Cup between 589-1 and 5-1 on Betfair :blink:
 
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I'd imagine a lot of that will be arbers although there's no doubt a fair few lemmings amongst that total aswel.
 
I reckon that was a huge compliment Definitely Red paid to Bristol De Mai who had him stone dead at Haydock yet DR showed how well handicapped he was today.

I reckon DR will go up at least 8lbs for that to an OR of 157. The jockey reported after Haydock that he thought DR would have been in the fight for third place and taking that at face value BDM gave him a 22lbs beating on the bridle.
 
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The flip side is Definitely Red is some tool on a going day. I backed off him today for all the wrong reasons, but I've just had a relook at his profile and watched his chases again, and he's last seasons Native River maturing a season on.
 
God I wished I'd trusted my instincts. Elliott has been adamant he wanted EoD in the Gold Cup and I had a sneaking suspicion something like this might happen.
 
Absolutely heartbroken. My favourite horse in training even if he leaves a lot to be desired.

Amount of money I've lost on his removal from the National and now this is borderline stupidity. Lesson learnt, bet with my head and not my heart.
 
Desert Orchid said:
I reckon DR will go up at least 8lbs for that to an OR of 157. The jockey reported after Haydock that he thought DR would have been in the fight for third place and taking that at face value BDM gave him a 22lbs beating on the bridle.
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DR went up 10lbs for the win.
 
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Jeez, this thread has been taken over by what will run and what won't run, and rightly so!

But its the race of The Festival, does anyone have any strong opinions on the form, or any realisations/visualisations about what's going to happen here?

I've got peanuts on Champagne West at 100/1, but topped up since then.

Everything I've seen this season makes me think a huge run is coming in a Grade 1 like this.

Whether he can win it or not, is about class. I'll only know if he possesses enough on the day. That's the chance I've taken at the price available.

Usually I'd want a horse with proven class for a race of this magnitude, but with Champagne West I'm happy to go on the 'potential improvement' angle. If the correlation of his improvement continues, and he improves the same amount for the Gold Cup as he has in his earlier seasonal races he'll be right there at the finish.

If he hasn't been taken off his feet as some predict, after two and a half miles or thereabouts, I wouldn't want to be laying him on Betfair.

I rest my case! :)
 
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I'm pretty sure if Djakadam runs to the same level he has the last two years he wins. It's a big renewal for me having initially taken 25 on the machine back in October. My fear is he doesn't get round ( fallen twice at the track.)

Of the opposition I love Sizing John and have him place only at 10s. Wouldn't mind seeing him winning at all.

Cannot have any of the others with the slight exception of Outlander and can see Minella Rocco hitting the frame.
 
first time in many years ive gone into the 'day of race' market with a clean slate for this.

gone with sizing john e/w at 9/1. such a shame thistlecrack isn't here.
 
I can't have Sizing John for this. It's bound to be a searching test of stamina and vastly different to the sprint that the Irish GC turned into. Djakadam for me and I'd agree if he runs the same race as he has the last 2 years then he should win


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