Lucinda Russell’s William Hill blog: Straight to the Gold Cup with Corach Rambler

William Hill ambassador Lucinda Russell gives an update on Corach Rambler and looks ahead to her runners at Newcastle and Newbury on Saturday.

There are no immediate race plans with Corach Rambler, mostly because there’s no race that would really suit him between now and Cheltenham. It sounds like we might have a bit of a closed mind, but that’s the situation and I think we’ll go straight to Cheltenham.

He’s been in great form since Haydock and we’ve given him an easy time since. Looking back on that run, I was very pleased with him. He got a RPR that was a pound under his Ultima win and a pound higher than his National win, so all things considered I think he’s run right up to his form.

The weight he’d have to carry if going for the Ultima would be too much and we’d rather have a crack at the big one off level weights, but with an eye on going back for the National.

Newcastle, Saturday

This Saturday, we kick off with Esprit Du Potier in the maiden hurdle (12:10pm). I really like him as an individual. He’s quite coltish, even though he’s not a colt, and even though he’s done plenty of schooling he still jumps quite novicey. If he can improve his jumping, which we’ve been practicing a lot, I think he’s got every chance of winning.

Choose A Copper goes in the novices’ hurdle (12:45pm). He won over two miles at Hexham, which was a funny race because at one point he looked like he was in trouble, but I think that’s just because he wants further. We like starting them off over two miles and I think he’ll keep stepping up in trip as he moves up in Grade. This looks like the ideal race for him at 2m6f and I think he’ll improve a lot for the step up in distance. It’s been frozen up here the last couple of days, so we’ve only been doing single canters with them and he’s very fresh – he seems in great form. We’re holding onto the neck-straps and hoping that they’ll settle down!

Destiny Is All looks to have a nice chance in the handicap chase (1:20pm). He won his comeback run and then had a bit of a rough passage at Cheltenham in an amateurs’ race, so I think you can put a line through that. The trip and track should suit him and he should go well, though I wouldn’t want to ground to turn too heavy.

Newbury, Saturday

Over at Newbury, Ahoy Senor is top-weight in the Coral Gold Cup (2:50pm) for a reason. He’s a very classy horse, but it is a heck of a weight to carry round. He’s run very well round Newbury before, where the fences suit him, and I think we’ll see a much-improved performance from his run at Wetherby. At an each-way price I think he’s been overlooked and we think finishing in the first four would be a satisfactory result. I’m quite bullish about him in a way because he’ll be much better for his comeback run, but it’s a big field and he has to carry top-weight.

Bollingerandkrug goes in the handicap chase (3:25pm). He’s a horse we struggled to win with as a younger horse, and we’ve struggled to get him to jump fences. We’ve given him plenty of time and he’s proved to be a bit of a revelation around Kelso. This is a totally different kettle of fish to Kelso, but we feel now’s the time for him to take the step up. We’ve got a lady at home who massages him and she thinks he feels fantastic, so finger crossed.