A star-studded seven-race card takes place at Cheltenham on Saturday 14th November, with the Paddy Power Gold Cup the feature race of the day at 2.20pm.
Our in-house tipster Steve Chambers previews all the action and picks out his three best bets across the afternoon action at Prestbury Park.
2:20pm Cheltenham – Meetmebythesea
Dominant when romping to victory in the Jack Richards Novices’ Handicap Chase at the Cheltenham Festival back in March, Meetmebythesea can claim more success at Prestbury Park on Saturday. A warm order for the Paddy Power Gold Cup at 2.20pm, the Ben Pauling-trained six-year-old will need to defy a notable 12lbs hike in the handicap, but he looks more than capable of dealing with that rise.
The JP McManus-owned star has already been touted as a potential Cheltenham Gold Cup contender come next spring, and if he is to reach those heights then he has to be able to win this event. Plenty line up with chances, but he certainly looks the class act in the field.
2:55pm Cheltenham – Rambo T
Olly Murphy’s Rambo T blossomed at the start of last season when battling to victory in the Silver Trophy Handicap Hurdle at Chepstow. However, he failed to kick on from that effort and continued to disappoint for the rest of the season. However, his mark has been gradually dropping and he’s now 4lbs lower than that Chepstow success for the hugely competitive 2.55pm contest.
He returned to Chepstow for the Silver Trophy last month, where he came a creditable fifth, but has been dropped a further 1lb by the handicapper. If Sean Bowen can get a tune out of him for this event then a mark of 133 looks more than workable, and he’s the selection.
3:30pm Cheltenham – A King Of Magic
Hugely impressive on his last start back in April, A King Of Magic thrashed his rivals by 15 lengths at Perth. He’s been given a 12lb rise for that win, but the Paul Nicholls-trained five-year-old is open to significant improvement this season. This is sure to be a notable step up in class, but the Ditcheat inmate has every capability of continuing on an upward curve and he could well get the better of Dan Skelton’s Moneygarrow, who is well fancied.
Freddie Keighley will take a valuable 5lbs off his back in this contest, so if he arrives here in good order then he has the potential to hand Nicholls success on Saturday, in what is another cracking handicap event for punters to get stuck into.
