Not only will punters be treated to the first notable jump meeting for two weeks on Saturday, but also one of the best cards of the season as Cheltenham prepares to leap into life with an enthralling day’s racing this weekend.
The cold snap sweeping the country has been a constant source of frustration for horse racing fanatics over the last couple of weeks but hopefully it will have been worth the wait come Saturday afternoon as some of the best horses in the business head to HQ for a tantalising afternoon of top class jumping.
The highlight in terms of betting on Saturday comes in the shape of the Vote A P Gold Cup (the December Gold Cup) which has been renamed in support of the legendary jockey’s bid to become BBC Sports Personality of the Year next weekend. It would be fantastic to see McCoy and Fingeronthepulse win their own race for the people tuning into Cheltenham, but it looks like Paul Nicholls and ROBINSON COLLONGES could steal the show and the novice chaser looks the best bet on Saturday’s card.
The selection heads to Cheltenham as a novice with heaps of ability and plenty of promise and he is taken to get the better of his elders, despite his worrying lack of experience. Nicholls’ five-year-old is open to bundles of improvement and it could turn out the handicapper has got it all wrong handing him a rating of 148. It is interesting to see that his trainer has been keen to stress that the horse has been handicapped on what he might achieve rather than what he has accomplished in his first three starts, however, he still could be a bit of a handicap blot.
Robinson Collonges looks highly likely to take his chance in one of the novice chases at next year’s Cheltenham Festival and in that case, a mark of 148 does not look too insurmountable, especially seen as he has already proved he can travel strongly and jump very efficiently.
True, he will have to be as good as believed if he is to get through the rigours of a big field competitive handicap but he has look all class to date and he would have made it three wins in three races had he beaten Wishfull Thinking rather than coming to grief at Wincanton two starts ago. Wishfull Thinking looked to be fighting a losing battle when Robinson Collonges fell that day and the eventual winner paid the ultimate compliment to the selection when chasing home Reve De Sivola at Cheltenham on Friday (he could probably have won had he not been hampered mid race).
Robinson Collonges would not be the first novice chaser to laugh off his mark in a competitive handicap (Imperial Commander and Great Endeavour both spring to mind) and he could prove a cut above a field that was largely seen battling it out in last month’s Paddy Power Gold Cup.
Elsewhere on the card it would take a brave man to bet against MASTER MINDED in the rearranged Tingle Creek Chase after the superstar looked right back to his best when cruising to victory in the Amlin 1965 Chase at Ascot on his seasonal reappearance. The dual Champion Chaser gave punters a timely reminder of his freakish ability with a display of inch perfect jumping and the step up to 2m4f proved to be no trouble at all. It would have been nice to see how far Albertas Run would have pushed him but it is doubtful any horse would have been able to live with him that day and he looks a class apart on Saturday, especially now that Twist Magic must run the race at his least favourite track.
The other feature on a fantastic card is the International Hurdle which sees Champion Hurdle hopefuls MENORAH, Cue Card and Silviniaco Conti put their Champion Hurdle credentials to the test in a fascinating renewal of the Grade Two showpiece. For all Cue Card looks to be a star in the making he will do well to live with Menorah and Silviniaco Conti will have to be absolutely awesome to concede weight to the market principals. It looks likely that Menorah will win this before he prepares to go to battle with the likes of Binocular and Hurricane Fly in March.
