The feature Betvictor Gold Cup on Cheltenham’s Saturday card looks really tricky with no obvious class horse and no horse with obvious claims to being well handicapped either.
If there is a class horse it might be Kylemore Lough for new trainer Harry Fry who makes his reappearance and saddles top weight; however, he’s been getting trounced in Grade 1 chases and he’ll have to be at his very best to win this, which is something we’ve not seen for a long time.
Second-favourite Tully East looks much more appealing with a Festival win at Cheltenham to his name from March and a prep run over hurdles under his belt.
Put a line through that run as it was over an inadequate trip and this has clearly been the target, begging the question of whether a 10lb rise since his last win can prevent his progress.
Paul Nicholls runs Le Prezien and Romain De Senam, with the latter of the two appealing most as he has race fitness and two wins already to his name this season.
He’s only five so has every right to improve again, but he’s already gone up 12lb this season and it might be getting fanciful to bank on that continuing.
Le Prezien was beaten fair and square by Foxtail Hill at Cheltenham last month and they’ve both received hikes in the ratings, which make this a tall order for both.
Whilst Le Prezien might lack that crucial fight in the finish, I’m a huge fan of the front-running Foxtail Hill, whose course form is excellent, though I’m just not sure he has the class to win this with his tame effort at Aintree last season in mind.
Running a blinder that day to finish miles ahead of Foxtail Hill in second was THEINVAL for Nicky Henderson, who is just 2lb higher re-opposing here and around a 20/1 shot with several firms after shaping nicely on his reappearance at Ascot.
He traveled well enough and was never asked serious questions, so you’d be confident he’ll come on nicely for the run, especially with the handicapper cutting him 2lb.
Second-season chasers have an excellent record in this race and he’s got Cheltenham form too, having finished a never-nearer third off a mark of 141 in the Grand Annual in March behind Rock The World, shaping like he needed the extra half-mile he gets here.
That was confirmed with two fine seconds over the intermediate trip at Ayr in back-to-back days in the spring, with the latter of the two an impressive second in a Grade 2 behind the classy Cloudy Dream, who only misses this race because of an admin error with his entry.
Theinval is very consistent, a solid jumper and seems to relish these big-field handicaps, while his proven form in two-mile chases means he holds no fears for what is likely to be a strong pace in this race.
Whilst he’s hardly well handicapped, he is weighted to finish in the money a better chance than his price suggests.
0.75pts each-way Theinval @22/1, 14:25 Cheltenham, Saturday (1,2,3,4, 1/4 with SportingBet)
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