Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup Chase (Grade 1)
Cheltenham Trials Day in late January was such a strange meeting to explain. Strange because I don't think I have been to a major Saturday meeting at Cheltenham in recent years where just about everyone appeared happy with how their beaten horses had run and so many remain convinced that their Festival prospects remain intact.
Delta Work's team seemed thrilled with his cross country run, Alan King (in particular) had never looked so happy to have finished second with Edwardstone in the Clarence House Chase but in the Gold Cup trial, the Cotswold Chase, nobody emerged more bullish about the future than Dan Skelton following PROTEKTORAT's fourth place behind Ahoy Senor,Sounds Russian and Noble Yeats.
At first glance, Protektorat was disappointing, but Skelton soon allayed any fears that he wasn’t up to it by blaming himself for being too easy on his stable star following his tremendously impressive rout in the Grade 1 Betfair Chase.
"I know why it happened", said Skelton after the Cotswold Chase "and I know what to do to put that right. He was 100% for Haydock but I haven’t been too hard on him since. He'll be fine." You could see in his eye that Skelton really wasn't looking for excuses and carried the demeanour of a man fully in charge of his horses' destiny. I think Skelton may well be proved right.
If I'm right, the Gold Cup is wide open this year and Protektorat will give us a really good run for our money.
It wasn't as though Protektorat ran badly; indeed, he traded at long odds on to win the race coming down the hill and up until the very dying embers of the race, he looked so good. He's a really strong traveller with a gritty edge to him, perfect qualities for a Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup contender.
His Haydock victory saw him at his best and its worth remembering how well he battled up the hill in last year’s Gold Cup, looking likely to be swamped before really sticking his neck out for third place. Obviously if the A Plus Tard from last year returns, they will all struggle to beat him, but I would really fancy Protektorat to finish ahead of all three of those that beat him in January.
The favourite of course demands huge respect. Galopin Des Champs has been a short-priced favourite for a long time now, a position which solidified after his win in the Irish Gold Cup. Will he prove to be a spectacular racehorse and pick up the Gold Cup? I have my doubts.
He obviously would have won the Turners last year but for over exuberance at the last but that was a stinker of a race really. Bob Olinger picked up the pieces to win there but you'd hardly fancy him to win a one-horse race these days.
Remember, Galopin Des Champs made a couple of quite bad mistakes on his way round. Last time at Leopardstown he appeared to be making quite hard work of getting past a very exposed Fury Road before asserting after the last and I just don't fancy him. So, if I'm right, the Gold Cup is wide open this year and Protektorat will give us a really good run for our money.
