2m4½f Caspian Caviar Gold Cup Handicap Chase (Grade 3) (Class 1) (4yo+)
Frodon picked up his second victory in the Caspian Caviar Gold Cup before going on to claim the Ryanair Chase last season. He was chased home by Cepage, who comes into this on a 12lbs higher mark after a very promising reappearance run behind the bizarre non-runner for this in Ridersonthestorm, who went up 13lbs for that win.
Cepage will need to improve again off a career high mark of 155. He should run very well despite carrying the burden of top-weight.
Paul Nicholls has won five of the last ten runnings and holds a strong hand with both Secret Investor and BRELAN D’AS on the upgrade. The latter is preferred with several strong leading trends pointing in his direction.
Not least the performance in the BetVictor Gold Cup here last month when he finished a very good second to Happy Diva. That race has produced five winners in recent seasons and Brelan D’As could still find improvement up just 5lbs for that neck defeat.
He put in a great performance in the Grand Annual earlier this year. But he looked better than ever on his latest start. Nichollas has said that he has improved for that run and he should go very well here.
Benatar also looks interesting on his reappearance with the first-time hood and could be a nice price having won off a long layoff before. Good Man Pat could also be racing off a decent mark.
1pt each-way Brelan D’As @7/1, 13:55 Cheltenham, Saturday (1-5 places, 1/5 odds several bookmakers)
Leave a comment