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Cheltenham Gold Cup Betting Guide

Gold Cup Profile

(Friday 15th March - 3.20pm)

The Cheltenham Gold Cup is the jewel in the crown of jump racing. Run over a distance of 3 miles 2½ furlongs, there are 22 fences to be jumped over the new course. First run in 1924, it has been won by many of the game's most famous names including Golden Miller, Arkle, Dawn Run, Desert Orchid, Best Mate, Denman and Kauto Star.


RACE TRENDS:

  • 13 of the last 16 winners had been placed at the festival before
  • 11 of the last 22 winners were second season chasers
  • 13 of the last 14 winners had all won a race that season
  • The last 13 winners were in the front three in the betting
  • 11 horses priced 33/1 and bigger have been placed since 1997
  • 75 of 77 horses beaten in the race before since 1994 have been beaten again. The only exceptions are Kauto Star (once) and a carried-out See More Business
  • 18 of the last 20 winners were aged between seven and nine
  • No horse older than ten has won since 1969
  • Only two horses since 1963 have won with less than six runs over fences

Cheltenham Gold Cup

Participant name Odds Bookie All odds

Bobs Worth

10/3

View all odds

Sir Des Champs

8

View all odds

Silviniaco Conti

10

View all odds

Sprinter Sacre

10

View all odds

First Lieutenant

16

View all odds

Long Run

16

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Dynaste

16

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Al Ferof

20

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Boston Bob

25

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Lord Windermere

25

View all odds

Gold Cup Winners

Position Yr Winner Age SP Distance Time Going Form Rating Trainer Jockey Video
1

2013

Bobs Worth

8

11/4F

7L

7.05.06

Soft

321-1

181

Nicky Henderson

Barry Geraghty

View

2

2012

Synchronised

9

8/1

2 1/4L

6.36.19

Good

P-731

175

Jonjo O'Neill

Tony McCoy

View

3

2011

Long Run

6

7/2F

7L

6.29.70

Good

13-31

183

Nicky Henderson

Sam Waley-Cohen

View

4

2010

Imperial Commander

9

7/1

7L

6.43.90

Good

1P-25

182

Nigel Twiston-Davies

Paddy Brennan

View

5

2009

Kauto Star

9

7/4F

13L

6.44.95

Good/Soft

2-1U1

185

Paul Nicholls

Ruby Walsh

View

6

2008

Denman

8

9/4

7L

6.47.84

Good/Soft

1-111

185

Paul Nicholls

Sam Thomas

View

7

2007

Kauto Star

7

5/4F

2 1/2L

6:40:46

Good/Soft

1111

175

Paul Nicholls

Ruby Walsh

View

8

2006

War Of Attrition

7

15/2

2 1/2L

6:31.70

Good

1152

173

Mouse Morris

Conor O'Dwyer

9

2005

Kicking King

7

4/1F

5L

6:42:90

Good

1211

177

Tom Taaffe

Barry Geraghty

10

2004

Best Mate

9

8/11F

1/2L

6:42:90

Good

11-21

174

Henrietta Knight

Jim Culloty

View

11

2003

Best Mate

8

13/8F

10L

6:39:00

Good

21-11

178

Henrietta Knight

Jim Culloty

View

12

2002

Best Mate

7

7/1

1 3/4L

6:50:10

Good

2-122

176

Henrietta Knight

Jim Culloty

View

13

2001

No Race

14

2000

Looks Like Trouble

8

9/2

5L

6.30.30

Good/Firm

31P1

173

Noel Chance

Richard Johnson

View

15

1999

See More Business

9

16/1

1L

6.41.90

Good/Soft

41P3

172

Paul Nicholls

Mick Fitzgerald

View

16

1998

Cool Dawn

10

25/1

1 3/4L

6.39.50

Good

111P

172

Robert Alner

Andrew Thornton

View

17

1997

Mr Mulligan

9

20/1

9L

6.35.50

Good

12-4F

174

Noel Chance

Tony McCoy

View

18

1996

Imperial Call

7

9/2

4L

6.42.40

Good

1F11

174

Fergus Sutherland

Conor O'Dwyer

View

19

1995

Master Oats

9

100/30F

15L

6.56.20

Soft

1-111

176

Kim Bailey

Norman Williamson

View

20

1994

The Fellow

9

7/1

1 1/2L

6.40.70

Good

3333

170

Francois Doumen

Adam Kondrat

View

21

1993

Jodami

8

8/1

2L

6.34.60

Good/Firm

2111

172

Peter Beaumont

Mark ODwyer

View

22

1992

Cool Ground

10

25/1

Short Head

6.47.60

Good

2171

167

Toby Balding

Adrian Maguire

View

23

1991

Garrison Savannah

8

16/1

Short Head

6.50.00

Good

121-1

169

Jenny Pitman

Mark Pitman

View

24

1990

Norton's Coin

9

100/1

3/4L

6.30.90

Good/Firm

6923

169

Sirrel Griffiths

Graham McCourt

View

Gold Cup Trials

Position Date Course Race Name Video
1

15/03/2012

Cheltenham

Jewson Novices' Chase

Sir Des Champs

View

2

13/04/2012

Aintree

Mildmay Novices' Chase

Silviniaco Conti

3

14/04/2012

Aintree

Grand National

Sunnyhillboy

View

4

24/04/2012

Punchestown

Champion Novice Chase

Sir Des Champs

View

5

03/11/2012

Wetherby

Charlie Hall Chase

Silviniaco Conti, Wayward Prince

6

03/11/2012

Down Royal

JNwine.com Champion Chase

First Lieutenant

View

7

24/11/2012

Haydock

Betfair Chase

Silviniaco Conti, Long Run, The Giant Bolster

View

8

01/12/2012

Newbury

Hennessy Gold Cup

Bobs Worth, First Lieutenant

View

9

09/12/2012

Punchestown

John Durkan Memorial Punchestown Chase

Sir Des Champs

View

10

26/12/2012

Kempton

King George VI Chase

Long Run, Captain Chris, The Giant Bolster

View

11

28/12/2012

Leopardstown

Lexus Chase

First Lieutenant, Sir Des Champs

View

12

05/01/2013

Chepstow

Welsh National

Monbeg Dude

View

13

26/01/2013

Cheltenham

Argento Chase

Cape Tribulation, Wayward Prince

View

14

09/02/2013

Newbury

Denman Chase

Silviniaco Conti, The Giant Bolster

15

09/02/2013

Leopardstown

Hennessy Gold Cup

Sir Des Champs

View

16

16/02/2013

Haydock

Grand National Trial

Monbeg Dude

17

16/02/2013

Ascot

Ascot Chase

Captain Chris

View

Connections Comments

Bobs Worth

"The only concern I had was traffic and congestion (in a big field), but he took to it. He’s a very easy ride. He just does as much as you ask him to do – nothing really flash – but every time you ask for a little bit of an effort, he delivers. He has the right profile (for the Gold Cup) - he’s an RSA winner and is four from four at Cheltenham. There’s every reason for Bobs Worth to be at the head of the market."

Barry Geraghty

3rd December 2012


"He has really got a bit to prove in that he has only really had one run outside novice chasing and that was in a handicap so he has got to do it against the big boys. It was a good performance in the Hennessy as it was in the RSA last year. It is a step up and I would have liked to have run him more on the way. He had one little hiccup himself and the whole winter has been the same – the ground has been desperate. His one opportunity to run came when the ground was bottomless and I am glad we did not go for that. He is a horse who is a bit more fragile than some of them and he wouldn’t want a hard race in heavy ground beforehand."

Nicky Henderson

18th February 2013

Captain Chris

"He jumped beautifully up to then and it was just unfortunate. I think he'll go for the Gold Cup, and the better the ground the better his chance. He stayed on well in the Ryanair a year ago, and he stayed on again in the King George."

Philip Hobbs

16th February 2013

Cape Tribulation

"He's grand, no problem. I thought Denis (O'Regan) gave him a great ride and it's nice to win a race like that. You have to enjoy those victories. This horse has got a lot of guts and he's a very good horse on his day. He'll have a quiet week or two now, then we will go straight to Cheltenham. If you're not in, you can't win. I'm not saying he would win a Gold Cup, but he might just get placed in one. I've been talking to Phil Smith (head of handicapping at the British Horseracing Authority) and he says the horse is going to be up in the 160s now. It's very hard for horses. You can break their hearts in big handicaps off top weight. They become hard races for them and there's good money in the Gold Cup if you finish in the places.

I don't think he's bothered about the ground and he won his two hurdle races last year on what the times suggested was almost good ground at both Cheltenham and Aintree. He'll run up the hill in the Gold Cup and when you look at some of the Irish horses in it you just don't know if they are going to get three and a quarter miles the way they have been running. They have to prove it yet and it is three and a quarter not just three miles. We'll give it a try if he's right. We'll give them a go."

Malcolm Jefferson

28th January 2013

First Lieutenant

"It was the best run he's ever had at this time of year. In the past he has never really run well during the winter, he's really a spring horse. This year he seems to be running much better during the winter, so if he can improve in the spring as he has in previous years, we'll be very happy. He'll go straight to Cheltenham now, for either the Ryanair or the Gold Cup. Mouse likes to run his horses at Christmas and go straight to Cheltenham and they always go there in top condition."

Michael O'Leary

31st December 2012


"My preference with the ground drying out would be the Gold Cup. Bryan Cooper has ridden him before and he's available, so that is the way I would like to go with him. We are going to discuss it next week. He'll stay forever, it's just if he has enough toe for the Ryanair and I don't think he would. He runs above himself at Cheltenham and he's done nothing wrong this year. He's just not got his head in front. He ran well at Down Royal, he ran well in the handicap at Newbury (Hennessy) and ran a blinder at Leopardstown."

Mouse Morris

22nd February 2013

Imperial Commander

"The bounce factor doesn’t worry me at all. There’s nearly seven weeks between the two races so he can have a break and we can get him back again. I'm not a great believer in bounce factors. I think all he can do is improve. It was heartbreaking to see him mugged on the line at Cheltenham but yet again he showed all his doubters wrong. He can come back and hopefully is as good as ever. There wasn’t a bother on him afterwards, which was a relief because in top-class races you always worry a little bit about injuries, but he's never had a horrendous injury. They have only been very minor, they just take time to mend. He goes straight to the Gold Cup now."

Nigel Twiston-Davies

6th February 2013

Long Run

"His preparation is all going to plan. We didn’t run at Newbury the other day because the ground had gone completely. Both Robert and I felt that a hard race in very, very soft ground would not achieve anything and I think that was the right decision. He is going to have gallop after racing on Saturday at Kempton on grass which should get him spot on.  He was only six when he won the Cheltenham Gold Cup and then wasn’t just at his very best last season. I cannot tell you that he is completely different this year but he is in very good order.

I boxed him and Binocular up last Saturday and drove them twice around the village before going to Sandown for a good gallop. Some cheek-pieces might just sharpen him up – there is no point being proud – they are not the prettiest  things in the world but if they make him go faster why not. He has regained the King George and maybe he can regain the Gold Cup.”

Nicky Henderson

18th February 2013

Silviniaco Conti

"Kauto won this as a six-year-old and went on to win the Gold Cup in the same season, and this horse is very, very exciting. He jumps, he has speed and he stays very well. I said coming into today that if he won he would go for the Gold Cup and that is the plan. You couldn't leave him in his box on Gold Cup day after that performance.

He definitely won't run in the King George, I don't think Kempton is his track. He won't run anywhere over Christmas, and he might even go straight to Cheltenham as he does go very well fresh. We could give him a run in something like the Aon but I certainly wouldn't be worried about going straight there with him. He wants to be fresh and I'm not going to run him through the winter in the mud. He could be really interesting, come Cheltenham. I thought he didn't get the credit he deserved at Wetherby [winning the Charlie Hall Chase]."

Paul Nicholls

24th November 2012


"People don't believe you when you say you have left a lot to work on with horses in these prep races - they think it is a matter of getting your excuses in early - but, trust me, that would have been like his first run of the season for him. So it was a great result, with so much to build on fitness-wise."

Paul Nicholls

10th February 2013

Sir Des Champs

"I imagine we are gearing this year towards the Gold Cup. He'll probably start off in the John Durkan and he's entered in the King George, but he'll be entered in Leopardstown (the Lexus Chase) at Christmas, too. He's a lovely big horse, he's built to carry 12 stones over three miles, which is ideally what you want in a chaser. I think the key to him is that he's so relaxed. I've never seen him at full strength or full speed, he just does what he has to do. That's just the way he is I think.

We'll just plot a course as it comes between now and March. There are various races we can go for, but we'll see how he gets through his first race and then plan the second one. I don't like having a map the whole way out, we'll take each day as it comes, because you don't know what's going to happen from one day to the next. You might have to change plans, the horse might get sick, he might get lame, all sorts of things can happen, which is why I prefer to take it one race at a time."

Willie Mullins

14th November 2012


"It looks like there’s more improvement. Every year he improves in the spring. He’s been to Cheltenham twice and he loves the place. He loves that hill, so I’m hoping he can show what he did the last two years, that he keeps improving coming into March."

Willie Mullins

11th February 2013

The Giant Bolster

"The winner is obviously a very good horse. I think Cheltenham is a unique track, so hopefully the result might be slightly different. He's run a fantastic race, wonderful, and it puts us bang on track again and we're looking forward to March. Historically with this horse he's never particularly done well before Christmas – I don't know why – but since Kempton he's just been a different horse. He didn't run very well at all at Kempton – it was just a non-event – but I knew he'd bounce back from that."

David Bridgwater

11th February 2013

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