Ben Linfoot picks out five high-profile entries in this year's Paddy Power Gold Cup at Cheltenham on November 15.
CALDWELL POTTER – THE GRADE 1 HORSE
After a few bumps in the road during his novice chasing season Paul Nicholls eventually got the best out of high-profile recruit CALDWELL POTTER at the business end of the last campaign. Defeats at Cheltenham and Windsor in December and January left the Ditcheat maestro scratching his head but the €740,000 signing romped away with the new Grade 2 Novices’ Handicap Chase at the Cheltenham Festival before stepping up to 3m1f successfully in the Grade 1 Mildmay Novices’ Chase at Aintree after that. Those two performances will have Nicholls dreaming of more Grade 1 glory but he would be a fascinating runner if taking in the Paddy Power Gold Cup first like Al Ferof, Caid Du Berlais, Stage Star, Il Ridoto (all first) and Poliantas, Thisthatandtother, Poquelin, Frodon and Brelan D’As (all second) did before him for the same yard. A decision on the destination of his seasonal reappearance is still to be decided, though, with Nicholls seemingly favouring the Betfair Chase at Haydock at this stage.
GIDLEIGH PARK – THE GRADE 1 HORSE?
If Caldwell Potter is a Grade 1 horse then Harry Fry will be hoping GIDLEIGH PARK is too after he defeated the expensive grey in the aforementioned Windsor race last January. The Walk In the Park gelding was on his own recovery mission at the time after being pulled up on chasing debut at Kempton and he appreciated the drop in trip with a fine display of jumping on the front end. He returned at Aintree after that after missing Cheltenham and he enhanced his reputation in defeat behind Impaire Et Passe in the Grade 1 Manifesto, a couple of mistakes not doing him any favours yet he still finished ahead of the Arkle winner Jango Baie. He’s still to tackle Cheltenham’s fences and he’s rated exactly the same as Caldwell Potter on 155, but he’s another talented youngster with lofty ambitions.
GINNY’S DESTINY – THE STABLE SWITCHER
Paul Nicholls loves a football analogy and losing GINNY’S DESTINY to Nicky Henderson is akin to a solid Premier League footballer leaving Manchester United for Manchester City. Owners Gordon and Su Hall made the switch after the latest season where Ginny’s Destiny failed to win a race in five starts, his handicap rating dropping 8lb to 147 which will give him a real chance if Henderson can reignite the old spark. In the previous season he racked up an enviable record at Cheltenham as a novice, winning on the Old Course once and the New Course twice, while he was second to Grey Dawning in the now extinct Grade 1 Turners Novices’ Chase at the Festival. If he can return to that sort of level or the form that saw him win the Timeform Novices’ Handicap Chase on 2024 Trials Day – which was achieved off his current rating of 147 – well, I wouldn’t want to be stood next to Nicholls in the winner’s enclosure.
JAGWAR – THE FAVOURITE
When you’re familiarising yourself with the up-and-coming stars of the National Hunt world and you re-watch JAGWAR’s win at last season’s Cheltenham Festival you immediately understand why he has slotted in as the early favourite for the Paddy Power Gold Cup. He wasn’t perfect at his fences on the first circuit in the TrustATrader Plate Handicap Chase but to say he warmed to his task is something of an understatement and he ended up being a very good winner of a hugely competitive race in the style of a horse that will improve again. He’ll have to – he’ll run off a 9lb higher mark in the Paddy Power – and if you talk about him as a contender then you also have to consider Gavin Cromwell’s Thecompanysergeant, the only horse within touching distance of him at the Festival. He might end up wanting further, bringing the Coral Gold Cup at Newbury into play, but this looks the perfect starting point for Oliver Greenall & Josh Guerriero’s progressive six-year-old.
THE JUKEBOX MAN – THE COMEBACK KID
He might not be ready for the Paddy Power Gold Cup – Ben Pauling said on these pages just this week that he’s toying between the Cheltenham race and the 1965 Chase at Ascot for his seasonal reappearance – but if he does turn up on November 15 at Prestbury Park THE JUKEBOX MAN will be a threat to all. Pauling is also talking about the Ryanair Chase as a potential Festival target for Harry Redknapp’s horse, underlining that he has the gears for 2m5f around Cheltenham, and if that’s the case he has to come into the reckoning for a Paddy Power from a rating of 151. Indeed, he could’ve been rated a bit higher than that coming into this campaign had injury not curtailed his novice season on Boxing Day, his excellent jumping in the Kauto Star at Kempton helping him to achieve Grade 1 success on just his second chasing start. It will be 324 days since that success by the time the tapes go up for the Paddy Power, but if The Jukebox Man is in the line it could be a statement of intent.
Paddy Power Gold Cup - sponsors bet: 6 Jagwar, 8 Caldwell Potter, Il Ridoto, 10 The Jukebox Man, 12 Coming Up Easy, Gidleigh Park, Riskintheground, Thecompanysergeant, 14 Hitman, 16 Colonel Harry, Conyer’s Hill, Hoe Joly Smoke, Panic Attack, Petit Tonnerre, Vincenzo, 20 Ga Law, Ginny’s Destiny, Grandeur d’Ame, Master Chewy, Matata, Theatre Native, The Other Mozzie, 25 Bad, Es Perfecto, Hunter Legend, 33 Etalon, Ifiwerearichman, Issar d’Airy, Protektorat, Donnacha
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