2016 Cheltenham Gold Cup

I was gutted for Cue Card. Would’ve won hands down if he’d have stayed on his feet. I hate that third last fence though … always seems to catch out many horses.

I think this was Cue Card’s best chance of winning the Gold Cup. Next time might be a struggle in my opinion.

Fran the man wrote:

TAPK i rate your opinion very highly but “Robbed of certain glory” is an outrageous remark to make, Don Cossack was only going through the motions and won easier than it looked and had plenty in the tank and i’ve no doubt he’d have beat Cue Card had he stayed up but that’s neither here nor there, it’s steeplechasing and Cue Card failed to do the important thing of jumping around.

Fair comment Fran, You of course are quite right but its these outraguous comments that make me the judge I am.I know had Yorkhill fallen 3 out most would say he’d have lost to ‘Yanworth’ but I knew from Rubys hands alone my fellow was going to sluice in,the same could be said for Altior had he fallen 3 out others would say ‘Min’ would have won again and Black Hercules my banker of the meeting could arguably be lucky that 2 opponents fell in his race when in contention.I would argue that he would have stayed on better than anything mind.The point I make is simply a visual one but for 30 yrs now when the monies down that visual impression has paid off more times than not.I saw enough at Wetherby to suggest Cue Card was back,nothing to do with form just the way he travelled,he did that again at Haydock and I was all over him for the King George/Gold cup double,his collateral form has proved he’s better than ever and he’s now 10yo.
For the first circuit of the Gold cup I was sat in front of the Telly saying ‘he’s not jumping’then 6 out he clicked into rhythm,then he started moving sweeter too,these are of course visual interpretations that have since been backed up by Paddy himself,as he went to 3 out he was positively tanking and Paddy knows he should have reigned him in and popped it sat nicely in 3rd position.From 2 out to home the clock says it was ran bang on the button for a good ground Gold Cup so neither ‘Djakadam’ nor ‘Don cossack’ quickened up the horse waiting to do that fell and so imo he would have sauntered past both,the formbook tells you he would have been a major player and he just about was through ‘Vautour’ and ‘Don cossack’..If there’s any justice they will meet at Punchestown and battle it out again.Call me a bad loser because in this case I am.

Come on TAPK, you’re talking through your pocket now. You cannot say Cue Card would’ve won easy. I would’ve been interesting if Cue Card did stay on his feet because he was back on the snaff but the Don is a very strong stayer.

I’m guessing you’re going to tell me that Don Cossack wouldn’t have won the KG if he hadn’t fallen.

Anyway, Thistlecrack has the potential to blow them all out of the water. 178 RPR doesn’t necessarily translate to fences but I really believe he could do it next year. With no ground worries I might have to have a tickle.

We have seen many horses turning into that most demanding of straights in the Gold Cup, travelling like the winner, looking certain of glory, only to wither up the hill.

Indeed, the image of One Man – barely climbing over the last fence in 1996 and 1997 – is indelibly etched in most memories, and has become the quintessential image of how that trusty left-right combination of those final extended two furlongs and stamina-sapping hill can knockout even the truest of champions. The Gold Cup doesn’t reward class, it rewards courage and endurance.

One Man certainly boasted greater staying credentials than Cue Card. A Hennessy hero over the Gold Cup trip – albeit off a featherweight – he also won the Cotswold Chase over a mere furlong shorter. Come March, however, competing in a championship race with championship pace, the extra furlong and that blasted hill, it was all too much and broke his heart.

More recently, we have enjoyed the clashes of Cue Card and Silviniaco Conti. The current scoreline, anyone? You need only cast you mind back three years to remember how well Silviniaco Conti was travelling in the Gold Cup when falling – like Cue Card – at the third last. How many punters felt hard done by, and how many neutrals believed him to be unlucky? One year later, and after outstaying Cue Card in the King George, Silviniaco Conti would head to Cheltenham with a leading chance – the chance to right the wrong of twelve months earlier. He jumped well, travelled into the straight full of running, led jumping the last, called on everything he had and…he didn’t even make the frame. The unknown territory and that blasted hill claims another victim.

Silviniaco Conti comprehensively beat Cue Card in the 2013 King George – their only clash where stamina was at an absolute premium, and clearly the deciding factor. Alas, Cue Card looked the likely winner turning into the straight before wilting approaching the last fence – he went from cruising to well beaten in the blink of an eye. With that in mind, how is it possible that Cue Card would’ve fared better than Silviniaco Conti over those extended two furlongs, tackling the hill?

In my opinion, Don Cossack was a worthy winner.

I believe Cue Card would have stayed the Gold Cup trip, settles far better now than he used to.
However, he still has more speed than Don Cossack. Therefore, the fact Cue Card was travelling better 3 out than Don Cossack is only to be expected. Allowing for that – and although I would’ve loved Cue Card to win – it is imo highly probable Don Cossack would’ve won anyway.

Steeplechasing wrote:

The Robin, You neglect to mention a couple of factors (perhaps you’r not aware of them).

Silv Conti – fine stayer though he is – has a lousy record at Cheltenham

Cue Card has a fine record at Cheltenham and has never stopped up that ‘blasted hill’, winning a Ryanair by 9 lengths running away and the Bumper in even easier fashion by 8l from Al Ferof.

Cue Card was not outstayed by SC in the King George – he stopped as though shot & the conclusion now of connections plus vets is that the the trapped epiglottis for which he had such transformative surgery was to blame (J Tizzard described it as like having a golf ball in your throat).

Any horse who wins a KG run at such a fierce pace as the 2015 one, on that ground, will not have an issue with the GC trip.

Finally, I’m not into the breeding side, but I’m told Cue Card’s dam stayed 4 miles.

Silviniaco Conti has a lousy record at Cheltenham because on three of his four visits to Prestbury Park he has competed in the Gold Cup. It is a unique test that is completely unparalleled in the demands that many top class three mile chasers encounter during their career. There was nothing wrong with his International Hurdle performance during the embryonic stages of his career, nor the way he travelled in two of his three Gold Cup attempts. It was only the combination of those extra two furlongs and the hill that proved his undoing – and would have done so in 2103 had he not fallen. Talking of lousy Cheltenham records, Don Cossack and Djakadam’s combined form figures at Cheltenham prior to last Friday were F2FF3. Of course, those figures didn’t tell the whole story under less than closer examination.

Albertas Run won an RSA Chase over an extended three miles, and a Ryanair Chase two years later – powering away up the hill to beat a well established Cheltenham specialist. He would later add a second, nearly a third, but sandwiched in-between those Festival triumphs was a dreadful effort in the Gold Cup. Albertas Run was a course specialist, stayed three miles, but couldn’t cut the mustard in the Gold Cup against established staying chasers. Perhaps my Albertas Run reference isn’t bombproof, but my point is that you can win the Ryanair going away, have proven yourself time and time again at the track but, again, those extra two furlongs and the hill make a huge difference – just ask One Man and Don Cossack, albeit for different reasons!

I wouldn’t make any comparisons between respective efforts in the King George and Gold Cup. It says an awful lot that only Kauto Star has managed to complete the double on more than one occasion, and plenty have tried. I remember One Man – again the quintessential example – winning his first King George at Sandown in soft ground by a huge margin (a tough course that places emphasis on stamina). He came there cruising at the distance in the Gold Cup and stopped to a walk. It was Desert Orchid’s owner, Richard Burridge, who said that the King George rewards class, the Gold Cup rewards courage. Many will use the terms ‘three mile chaser and staying chaser’ hand in hand. I beg to differ. Many top class three mile chasers have an enviable record in the King George, but a less than inspiring one in the Gold Cup.

As for the trapped epiglottis. Connections are at a loss to explain when it was trapped. When Silviniaco Conti beat Cue Card in the King George it came only four weeks after Cue Card beat Dynaste to win his first Betfair Chase on just his second start at three miles. His first attempt came in the previous renewal of King George where, after a couple of early mistakes, he was close enough if good enough approaching the business end of the race, only to weaken in very testing conditions.

Cue Card is a very good three mile chaser, but there is no evidence to suggest that he would have maintained a forward surge had he stayed on his feet last week. Conversely, there is enough evidence for me to suggest he may well have struggled to maintain it. The trapped epiglottis, I would suggest, affected him last season where an aggregate defeat of 82 lengths in five outings does not accurately portray a horse of his ability. He has had a stellar career, but I think there are more than enough chapters in the Cue Card book of excuses, although not a patch on The New One’s equivalent of War And Peace!

Steeplechasing wrote:

BTW. given Smad Place’s run and Many Clouds last year, that Cotswold Chase wants treating with extreme caution by trainers: looks like it bottomed those two. Smad Place might well bounce back somewhere at a big price as MC did in the National

Alan King is out of form Joe. Last 28 runners, zero winners. He was on form at the trials week, landing five winners that day but like the failed porn star, he came too soon.

King was 3/63 last March, so it doesn’t seem his month of late.

In the case of One Man, is there an argument to be made that he wasn’t the same horse in the spring as he was in the winter months?

We currently have Vautour who seems to be the opposite…struggles for form around Christmas time but a different horse in March.

One man won 12/16 in the months of Nov/Dec yet was 1/8 in Mar/Apr and that sole win coming at Cheltenham..

Cue Card would have got the trip no problem for me..