The Bet365 Gold Cup (formerly known as the Whitbread Gold Cup) is a Grade 3 Handicap Chase run over 3 miles and 5 furlongs at Sandown Park at the tail end of April each year. It is traditionally recognised as the race that ends the current NH season.
In the last few seasons the race has taken on extra significance as Nicky Henderson and Paul Nicholls have battled out the trainers’ championship, however this time around the title has already gone the way of Nicholls but there will still be a lot of pride at stake.
In previous years the battling pair of trainers have come into the race mob handed with multiple entries and this year is no exception. Nicholls sends out the two-time Badger Ales winner, Present Man, as well as Adrien Du Pont and Give Me A Copper whilst Henderson saddles the Ultima Chase victor Beware The Bear, along with Vyta Du Roc.
Last 10 Winners:
2018 – STEP BACK (7/1)
2017 – HELLAN HARRI (40/1)
2016 – THE YOUNG MASTER (8/1)
2015 – JUST A PAR (14/1)
2014 – HADRIANS APPROACH (10/1)
2013 – QUENTIN COLLONGES (14/1)
2012 – TIDAL BAY (9/1)
2011 – POKER DE SIVOLA (11/1)
2010 – CHURCH ISLAND (20/1)
2009 – HENNESSY (13/2)
Age: (wins-placed-runners)
6-y-o: 0-0-5
7-y-o: 2-5-24
8-y-o: 4-5-44
9-y-o: 2-4-42
10-y-o: 0-7-38
11-y-o: 2-4-16
12-y-o+: 0-3-9
Although two horses aged eleven have won in the last ten years, no horse aged over nine has won in the last six renewals of this race. This is a negative looking trend for the likes of: Rathin Rose, Le Reve, Joe Farrell, The Young Master and Vyta Du Roc.
Weight: (wins-placed-runners)
11 stone or more: 1-9-58
10st 6lb to 10st 13lb: 4-12-51
10st to 10st 5lb: 5-4-44
9st 13lb or less: 0-3-12
Only three horses in the last thirty years have been able to carry 11st 6lb or more to victory in this race.
Ratings: (wins-placed-runners)
146 or higher: 3-8-51
132-145: 7-19-107
131 or lower: 0-2-13
Nine of the last ten winners have been officially rated 135 or higher. This is a key statistic given that six of the last seven winners have specifically come from the 135-146 rated bracket.
Trainer Form:
Paul Nicholls is the trainer you have to give the upmost respect to in this race. He won it in 2001 and 2003 with Ad Hoc, Tidal Bay in 2012 and Just A Par in 2015. Given his record this season when pairing up with Bryony Frost you have to give any Ditcheat horses the once-over when making your picks.
Philip Hobbs trained the winner in 2006 and 2008 and is worth following even though he has had a relatively quite season by his standards.
Nicky Henderson last won this race in 2014 with Hadrian’s Approach.
Starting Price:
Seven of the last ten winners have been priced between 13/2 and 14/1, with a 20/1, 25/1 and a 40/1 thrown in for good measure.
Favourites have an appalling record over the last ten years. None have won and just six have been placed.
Summary:
Pick a horse that matches some or all of the following criteria:
- Ran in a race at the 2016 Cheltenham Festival
- Is aged between seven and eleven
- Ran in the last 50 days
- Is rated 135 to 146
- Carrying 10st 7lb to 11st 5lb
- Finished in the first six on its last chase start
- Ideally priced up in the first six in the betting but not the favourite
Interesting Contenders:
The Mark Bradstock-trained Step Back is bidding to become the first back-to-back winner of the bet365 Gold Cup Handicap Chase for 26 years at Sandown on Saturday.
The gelding took this prize off a 10lb lower mark last year when defeating Rock The Kasbah and was pulled up in the Grand National on his latest run.
Rock The Kasbah was brought down at Aintree but he is a horse that appears to run his best in spring-like conditions and there is every chance he could bounce right back to his best here.
Philip Hobbs also saddles the consistent Rolling Dylan, but all his wins have come with the word “soft” in the going description so his supporters will be hoping that plenty of rain comes along by the weekend.
Last year’s Scottish National winner Joe Farrell was pulled up in Grand National after being well fancied but ten-year-olds have a woeful record in this contest in recent times.
The weights are headed by Beware The Bear, winner of the Ultima Handicap Chase at the Cheltenham Festival. He will be a popular choice amongst punters but bucking a 30 year trend is going to be an extremely difficult task for the nine-year-old.
His trainer Nicky Henderson also has Vyta Du Roc, who was runner-up in this race two years ago.
Paul Nicholls is triple-handed with Present Man, Adrien Du Pont and Give Me A Copper as he is crowned champion trainer on what is the last day of the jumps season.
The bookies could also take somewhat of a spanking if the Alan King-trained Talkischeap obliges.
Priced as big as 20/1 before Easter, the Charles Dingwall-owned seven-year-old has been the subject of a sustained gamble and is now trading around the 8/1 mark. The four-time winner is yet to tackle this trip under rules but he did win three point-to-points so the extra distance should not be an issue.
The Young Master, the winner in 2016, tries again for Neil Mulholland while others in the mix include Just A Sting, Le Reve and Captain Chaos.
Conclusion:
It’s another tricky big race handicap to end the 2018/19 NH season but I’m a great believer in cream rising to the top, and the class act in this field for me is Rock The Kasbah and so is his jockey, Richard Johnson.
As well as picking up another jockey’s championship title on Saturday afternoon, “Dickie” can also land this feature race to put the icing on the cake.
888sport suggests: Rock The Kasbah (e/w).
*Odds subject to change - correct at time of writing*
