With Cheltenham’s January meeting just about to take place it seemed a good idea to examine what chances the meeting has of producing a Gold Cup winner and where the Gold Cup winner usually comes from.

Tomorrow’s Letherby and Christopher Chase looks between Our Vic and Neptune Collonges. With both priced at 50/1 for the Cheltenham Gold Cup it seems that this can’t really be deemed a valid trial.

These are the routes to the Gold Cup the eventual winners took since 2000.

2000 - Looks Like Trouble - Pulled up in the King George, won the Pillar (now the Letherby and Christopher Chase)

2001 - Abandoned

2002 - Best Mate - Runner up in the King George

2003 - Best Mate - Won the King George

2004 - Best Mate - Won the Lexus

2005 - Kicking King - Won the King George

2006 - War Of Attrition -Runner up in the Lexus

2007 - Kauto Star -  Won the King George

Earlier in the season I highlighted the poor record of Hennessy Gold Cup winners and from the above evidence it is absolutely essential that a Gold Cup hopeful at least contests either the King George or the Lexus, without necessarily winning. If your ante post ticket contains a horse who was resting over the Christmas period, you might as well rip it up now.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 25th, 2008 at 3:38 pm and is filed under Gold Cup. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.