Saturday’s Cotswold Chase at Cheltenham saw the Willie Mullins-trained Capodanno storm to victory in the Cheltenham Gold Cup trial, but while another notable prize returned to Closutton from Prestbury Park it just emphasised the fact that the British charge for the 2024 Cheltenham Gold Cup on March 15 is worryingly thin on the ground.
When naming potential Cheltenham Gold Cup winners from the Mullins yard the name ‘Capodanno’ wouldn’t be uttered and the JP McManus-owned eight-year-old, who beat The Real Whacker by two-and-three-quarter lengths at the weekend, doesn’t even hold an entry in the Cheltenham Gold Cup. All this further emphasises that the Mullins team don’t even fancy targeting the Blue Riband event in the spring with the Cotswold hero.
Yes, they don’t need to target the race with him as they have reigning champion and current ante-post favourite Galopin Des Champs spearheading the betting and looking like he could emulate stablemate Al Boum Photo by winning back-to-back Gold Cups, but for Capodanno to win at the weekend highlights a lack of top quality staying chasers in Britain.
Paul Nicholls unleashed the smart novice Stay Away Fay, who ran creditably for third place behind Capodanno and The Real Whacker and the Ditcheat inmate is sure to return to the novice sphere. The Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase on day two of Cheltenham is likely to be the order of the day, as he showed he’s not up to Gold Cup level yet.
Royale Pagaille suffered a late fall when well beaten and the Venetia Williams-trained Betfair Chase hero picked up a slight injury, meaning he could miss the Cheltenham Gold Cup, while Lucinda Russell’s Ahoy Senor continued his disappointing start to the season as his chances waned up the straight and he weakened to come last of four finishers.
Now, that British-trained triumvirate may not be the leading chasers on home soil with the likes of Nicky Henderson’s Shishkin and the aforementioned Williams-trained L’Homme Presse two of the most notable names to take on the Irish charge come March, but away from that pair, who are both trading around 10/1 at the time of writing, you only have last year’s Gold Cup runner-up Bravemansgame, who has failed to fire all season.
The Cotswold Chase may not have provided any Gold Cup clues, but Saturday’s Irish Gold Cup on day one of the Dublin Racing Festival at Leopardstown should help with Galopin Des Champs potentially locking horns with his Punchestown Gold Cup and John Durkan conqueror Fastorslow in what is set to be a mouth-watering clash on Irish soil.
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