Cheltenham Festival
Cheltenham Gold Cup Betting Tips and Odds
The showpiece of the fast-approaching Cheltenham Festival is the Cheltenham Gold Cup on Friday.
This year’s renewal looks like one of the most competitive contests in recent years, with several horses in with a serious chance of landing the biggest prize of them all.
Let’s take a look at the contest.
Cheltenham Gold Cup
We currently have joint favourites in the antepost betting for Friday’s showpiece. Jango Baie heads the market for the Nicky Henderson team alongside Fact To File for the Willie Mullins yard.
If you’d have said that Jango Baie would be favourite for this race as he lined up in last year’s Arkle, not many would have believed you, but he looked every bit of a stayer when winning that day with further improvement brought about as he’s stepped up in trip.
He blew apart the Grade 2 1965 Chase back in November before a big run in the King George where he finished fourth – however, that didn’t tell the full story as he was only half a length behind the winner, The Jukebox Man.
There’s little concern that he won’t be able to handle the extra two-and-a-half furlongs in trip as he looks to have stamina in abundance. He looks a solid option at the prices.
Fact To File shot to the head of the market after he took the Irish Gold Cup apart at the Dublin Racing Festival.
Prior to that, he’d been earmarked as likely going back for a shot at retaining his Ryanair crown, a feat he’d be a warm order to do, but the commanding nature of that victory has seen him shorten dramatically to win the Gold Cup.
His target still isn’t confirmed at this point, so taking 5/1 antepost seems a bit risky. However, if you do fancy his chances, it might be worth taking the 4/1 in the Non-Runner Money Back market as you’ll receive your stake back if he doesn’t run.
The Jukebox Man is next in the betting for Ben Pauling. Winning the King George back in December, he is more than deserving of his place in the betting. He’s still relatively unexposed for a contest like this having only run four times over fences, but his progression has been stark and he is worthy of serious consideration to take the prize back to the Pauling team.
Gaelic Warrior is another horse who came out of the Irish Gold Cup with serious credit. Finishing behind Fact To File, he could reverse the form going up in trip but also has the option of the Ryanair as Willie Mullins looks to split his horses between the two races.
The fact that there’s a two-time winner in the form of Galopin Des Champs at 7/1 shows how competitive this contest is. It’s clear that he isn’t the force of old but on his running this season there’s no doubt that he retains a good amount of his old ability. He’s been there and done it and what a story it would be if he could make it a third Gold Cup. You can’t rule it out, but he might be vulnerable to the younger horses.
Welsh and Irish Grand National winner Haiti Couleurs follows in the market at 8/1 and is an extremely likeable type for the Rebecca Curtis team. The front runner has been extremely game in his races and could put several of his challengers in trouble if he gets into a rhythm off the front end. There are no doubts of him seeing out this trip and his staying power could prove a real asset in the closing stages of the race if he’s still in with a chance. He may just be outclassed by a couple in the field but you’d want him on your side if it turned into a battle.
We’ve got to double-figure odds and still haven’t even mentioned last year’s winner, Inothewayurthinkin. He was the one to upset the odds and down Galopin Des Champs last season and he made no mistake in doing so. He looked as if he might make the division his own this season but has struggled to back up that level of performance.
Not sighted in his first two starts of the season, he fell most recently in the Irish Gold Cup which isn’t a good prep for any race, never mind the Gold Cup. At the current odds, he looks short enough but you must take into account that he gives his best running at the track and is two from two at the Festival.
