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The course and field size will surely favour Irving more than Cheltenham did in which he went off favourite and suffered his only defeat to date over the hurdles. The going is currently good but the conundrum is his fitness with it being early season. The dangers include Rock on Ruby, Forgotten Voice(already had a run) and Purple Bay amongst others. I think Irving is by far the better horse in the race but due to the unknown regarding fitness I’d only be prepared to part with any pennies at about 2/1 or better, Stan James have opened a book and have him up at 11/8.
Gaelic Warrior Gold Cup Winner 2026
A bit of a negative entry from Nicholls isn’t it?
I’d have thought that the Greatwood would be a more desirable race if Irving really is going to develop into a Champion Hurdle contender. I might give
Fox Norton
a go – he’s got some smart form behind Royal Irish Hussar and beat the useful Broughton last year. Nick Williams is particularly hot at this time of the year too.
I’d be all over Irving around here if he’d had a prep race but will probably swerve it now because if he is then he wins.
Lee
I think Bertimont is worth a pop at 7/1. Only 4 years old he looked nothing much until his seasonal debut this year, where they walked for 20 seconds until the gallop started. He carried top weight that day and made all the running once they started racing. He was well clear and was eased down to win by 16 lengths from favourite Dawalan.
Dawalan went on to finish a half length behind easy and cheeky winner Sign Of A Victory, who was talked of as a Champion Hurdle "springer" in the aftermath of the race.
If we can trust the form at all it makes Bertimont an interesting contender at the relative odds.
Irving is the sexier horse with his profile and trainer but the fact is that both horses are rated 148 at the moment and the Skelton trained horse is two years younger.
5/4 Irving and 7/1 Bertimont seems unbalanced given the similarities in achievement so far and the bigger priced horse having already won this season.
Bertimont 7/1 (Nap)
Thanks for the good crack. Time for me to move on. Be lucky.
Where to now for RoR? And, I must admit that I was a big fan of The New One in his novice days, but I’m far from sure now that he’ll deliver his full promise.
As said by Triptych the best bit of the day was seeing Irving back on his feet. Had he stayed up it’s hard to tell what would of happened but seeing how he hampered Purple Bay and the way that horse ran to the line I doubt Irving would have won.
Gaelic Warrior Gold Cup Winner 2026
I was pleased enough with Bertimont’s run, he’d probably have been 3rd but certainly outran the insulting odds of 14/1 when compared to Rock On Ruby, who looks like age may be catching up with him.
Irving has run well but I felt odds of as low as 5/4 were tight enough. He may go for the Fighting Fifth next.
Thanks for the good crack. Time for me to move on. Be lucky.
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