Twiston-davies targets fifth Betvictor Gold Cup as Cheltenham gets go-ahead
Count Meribel can give Nigel Twiston-davies a fifth Betvictor Gold Cup at Cheltenham today after the course was given the go-ahead to race at yesterday’s afternoon inspection.
The seven-year-old has a lot going for him; his trainer is the most successful of the current crop, having won it with Tipping Tim (1992), Imperial Commander (2008), Little Josh (2010) and Splash of Ginge (2017), he likes the course, does not mind wet ground and looks nicely handicapped.
But what swings it for me is that if Lostintranslation really is the Gold Cup winner-in-waiting, as many seem to think, then finishing 2¼ lengths second to him at Carlisle first time out this season highlights a terrific chance. Of course, Count Meribel was slightly flattered then, but that was still a good effort behind a horse who looks top notch.
As a novice hurdler, one of his best efforts was on similarly wet ground at Cheltenham when only Kilbricken Storm, who went on to win the Albert Bartlett at the Festival, beat him. While he will cope with wet, his two worst runs have been on gluey ground, but I cannot believe the track will have dried out to the extent that it becomes sticky.
“It was a hell of a run against Lostintranslation,” Twiston-davies said yesterday. “We weren’t trying to be too hard on him first time either and he ran exactly as we thought he would. The last two times he ran last season he came back with sore shins, but he didn’t run badly in the RSA despite that.”
The dangers are Slate House, Colin Tizzard’s chaser who never quite got his act together last season but was a facile winner at the course last time and may be ahead of the handicapper, while Siruh Du Lac arrives on the back of four straight wins last season, culminating in the Brown Advisory at the Festival.
Longer shots are Guitar Pete, the Nicky Richards-trained chaser who loves these two-mile-five-furlong handicap chases at Cheltenham, and Mercian Prince, on the back of a wind operation.
Venetia Williams has already had four winners this month and Achille can add to the tally in the Betvictor Smartcards Handicap Chase, while the Welsh runner Eva’s Oskar can get the better of his popular fellow countryman Tobefair at the weights in the Big Buck’s Handicap Hurdle.
Tiger Roll, the two-time Grand National winner, underwent a small operation to have a chip of bone removed from a joint yesterday. It means a February start to his season at the very earliest or going straight to Cheltenham in March, not quite the perfect National preparation he had in the past two years.
Cheltenham card: P22