Originally Posted by
Pretty Boy
Yep, remember the race well because I had a wedge on Coneygree at 8/1.
I'm not for a second suggesting Many Clouds will win the Gold Cup, Aintree is his target and Cheltenham will be to get another run under his belt. The addition of a proven stayer over the marathon trips always adds a nice dynamic though, especially if others try to take them on for the lead. Adding Native River into the mix suggests a strong gallop is on the cards. A couple of examples in recent years is when Lord Windemere won the race. Teaforthree was in the field and went off quickly and most of the field fought for position. Davy Russell dropped right out the back and niggled LW to keep him in touch, as mistakes started to happen he powered through the field and won well in the end. Synchronised was another, he was off the bridle from miles out and McCoy produced a masterclass to keep him going, all he did was stay on and he passed the whole field up the hill.
I wouldn't take anything away from Thistlecracks form. However he did get the run off the race in a small field on his ground at Kempton. Cue Card also ran about 6lbs below his rating. It's also worth remembering that the Cheltenham chase course is a different beast to the hurdles course he knows well. The layout of the hurdles course rewards a high cruising speed as large sections are run on the 'flat'. The chase course, whilst still rewarding speed, is one of the ultimate jumping tests. Timeform ranked all NH chase courses in terms of jumping difficulty and Cheltenham ranked 5th behind Aintree National, Aintree Mildmay, Fakenham and Musselburgh.
I'm confident Thistlecrack will win and backed him a long while back at 6s so I won't be looking for anything else in te race. I just think he will get a far sterner test than at Kempton. There's a lot of different factors to take into account and I think it will be a better and closer race.