Coral Gold Cup 2023 trends for Newbury 2.50 on Saturday

The Coral Gold Cup – formerly known as the Hennessy – is one of the most prestigious prizes in the National Hunt game and a bumper field of 20 runners are set to tackle this year’s renewal.

It looks like a proper punting puzzle as only a few runners are dragged out of the handicap by top weight Ahoy Senor – rated 169 – and our fearless leader’s paying six places if you’re considering an each-way play.

A quick leaf through the history books could help point us in the right direction of the winner – so we’ve done just that to save you the bother.

Coral Gold Cup odds can be found on the Paddy Power website and Paddy Power app, otherwise key trends from the last 10 years and a tip based off the big-race stats are below.

Coral Gold Cup trends

AGE

Nine of the last 10 winners were aged between six and eight, which rules out a quarter of the field at the first hurdle – Cloudy Glen, Eldorado Allen, Remastered, Shakem Up’Arry and Zanza.

CHASE FORM

You want to look for a horse that has had six previous runs over fences and two chase victories on their CV as that is a trend shared by the last 10 winners of the Coral Gold Cup.

DISTANCE FORM

A bit of form over staying trips is crucial as nine winners since 2013 had run over 3m or further on at least four previous occasions, while eight of those had recorded a victory over that distance.

LAST TIME OUT

Horses that have had a prep run tend to fare better as seven of the last 10 winners had previously run within the last 43 days.

An additional LTO stat is that eight of the last 10 winners achieved a top-three finish on their previous run.

RATING

You want to look for a horse with a touch of class as eight of the last 10 winners of the race were rated 146 or higher.

WEIGHT

The presence of top weight Ahoy Senor renders this trend rather meaningless but nine of the last 10 winners carried 11st 4lbs or less to victory.

CORAL GOLD CUP TRENDS VERDICT

Dan Skelton saddled last year’s winner and the trends suggest he could be celebrating in the winner’s enclosure once again as MIDNIGHTRIVER ticks all the boxes. Complete Unknown and Mahler Mission are next best as they only fail to meet half of the chase form statistics.

*All prices are bang up to date with our snazzy widgets, while odds in copy are accurate at time of publishing but subject to change