CLAN DES OBEAUX is a deserved favourite for Saturday’s Caspian Caviar Gold Cup over two-and-a-half miles around Cheltenham.
His novice chasing form is working out really well with Whisper, who has beaten him less than a length on two occasions in the past year, going so close in the Ladbrokes Trophy last month.
Whisper’s own form and rating was perhaps supressed by the ease at which the current King George favourite Might Bite repeatedly beat him last year, but that horse simply looks a world beater.
Whisper is now rated 169 and that perhaps suggests, despite the burden of top weight on winter ground, Clan Des Obeaux’s mark of 155 is highly generous and the 4/1 on offer is a steal for this.
Top weight will be tough but Clan gave weight and a beating on his previous start at Haydock when he floated through heavy ground to win a graduation chase with ease.
I do wonder if he will be best at staying trips in the future, and I have a nagging doubt he prefers flatter tracks to Cheltenham, but even with that in mind I still like the 4/1.
Top class opposition seems few and far between and there isn’t much at the foot of the weights that looks capable of springing a surprise apart from shock Betvictor Gold Cup winner Splash Of Ginge, who only shoulders a 5lb rise in the weights for that fine win.
Clan Des Obeaux, last year described by his trainer as the apple of his eye, simply looks the one on the steepest upward curve and remains very unexposed as a second-season chaser in open company.
1pt win Clan Des Obeaux @4/1, 13:55 Cheltenham, Saturday
Leave a comment