GREATWOOD GOLD CUP: Art Mauresque is favourite for the Greatwood Gold Cup at Newbury on Saturday, but you can back him at 6.8, and it is easy to argue that he is worth backing at that.
For starters, he is trained by Paul Nicholls, and Paul Nicholls has a fairly remarkable record in this race, having sent out seven winners of the race in the last 10 years, including Cornish Sett, who dead-heated with Horus in 2006.
Nicholls obviously knows the type of horse that is required to win the race but, more than that, he obviously targets the race, and it looks like he has had the race in mind for Art Mauresque since last December, if not since before that.
The Policy Maker gelding was good at the start of this season. He ran a nice race to finish third to an in-form Irish Cavalier on his seasonal return at Newton Abbot in early October, and he stepped up on that next time at Cheltenham’s October meeting, running out an impressive winner of a two-and-a-half-mile novices’ chase. That race may not have taken that much winning in the end, but it was difficult not to be impressed by the manner in which the Nicholls horse won.
He deserved to take his chance in the PP Gold Cup after that and, racing off a mark of 147, it looked like he was going to be involved at the finish when he turned for home in the front rank. He had raced prominently from early, however, and that, together with the energy-sapping ground, took its tool, and he faded on the run-in to finish sixth. It was a race in which it was an advantage to be held up, with the first three home coming from the rear of the field.
You have to forgive him his run in the December Gold Cup, but you easily can. The ground was even softer at Cheltenham in December than it had been in November, the distance was slightly longer than the distance of the PP Gold Cup, and it was Art Mauresque’s fourth run in just over two months.
He hasn’t run since then, and that should have given Nicholls the opportunity to freshen him up nicely with this race in mind, which surely it has been for a while. The handicapper has dropped him 3lb back down to a mark of 144, the mark off which he started off this season, and that is a nice bonus, but there is every reason to expect that he will be better now anyway than he was in November.
He should be happier on the better ground that he should encounter on Saturday, and he should be happier back on a flat track and back over two miles and three and a half furlongs. Interestingly, the standard time for this distance at Newbury is 19 seconds faster than the standard time for the intermediate distance on Cheltenham’s New Course.
Jockey bookings suggest that the other Nicholls representative Sametegal is the stable’s number one, and Sametegal has a big chance, but Sam Twiston-Davies has ridden Sametegal in each of his last three runs, whereas he has ridden Art Mauresque just once in his career. It is probable that the decision to leave him on Sametegal was an easy one, and Noel Fehily is a top booking for Art Mauresque. The rider can be as aggressive on him as he likes over this trip and on good to soft ground.
Art Mauresque is only six, and he has raced just eight times over fences. He still has plenty of scope for progression, and it would not be at all surprising to see him put up a career-best performance on Saturday.
It is a competitive race. Sametegal remains progressive and Little Jon should be happier back at Newbury than he was at Cheltenham for his last two runs, while Ultragold was impressive at Wincanton last time. That said, Art Mauresque has an awful lot in his favour, he is a deserving favourite and he looks over-priced.
Band Of Blood is one of the most interesting horses in the Grimthorpe Chase at Doncaster. Fourth in the Irish Grand National last April for Mouse Morris, the King’s Theatre gelding was well backed on his debut for Dr Richard Newland in Taquin Du Seuil’s race at Warwick last month. He was well beaten in the end, but that was over two and a half miles, it should have been too sharp for him.
He should be happier stepped back up to three miles and two furlongs on Saturday. The handicapper has dropped him 3lb to a mark of 132, which is 1lb lower than his Irish National mark, and that makes him interesting.
Also, he only has 10st 3lb to carry in a race in which the last seven winners carried 10st 12lb or less, and in which all of those towards the top of the market are carrying 11st 3lb or more. If he can get into a nice even rhythm early on, he could out-run odds of around 11.0
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