Wise follow Williams at Cheltenham

Buywise can step up and improve on last year’s showing

BUYWISE can improve on last year’s fifth place by claiming top honours in the Paddy Power Gold Cup at Cheltenham.

Evan Williams’ perpetual headscratcher seems to always arrive on a racecourse with questions to answer, as those who have followed him over fences will solemnly testify.

But few would dare suggest he is not good enough to win a race like this, and now might be the time he becomes a man.

It is a big ‘if’, of course, as his fencing has hitherto been slipshod when it really matters.

One only needs to watch a rerun of last season’s Paddy Power to be reminded of that fact, as he jumped scruffily yet was still only beaten three and a quarter lengths by Caid Du Berlais.

There were, though, distinct signs of improvement on his seasonal debut at Aintree last month when he actually turned in a quite lovely performance in the Old Roan Chase.

Buywise never looked like winning, but he appeared as purposeful and as switched-on as he had done for a long time to finish a reasonably close third behind Sound Investment and Wishfull Thinking.

That run will have done him the power of good, not least from a fitness point of view, while he returns to Cheltenham just 2lb higher than in last year’s race.

Likeable stayer SEGO SUCCESS should cope with the demands of the Murphy Group Handicap Chase.

Alan King’s seven-year-old was a good novice last season, winning at Wetherby and Warwick before a rather luckless fifth in the four-miler at the Festival.

VODKA WELLS made a costly error at the second-last fence last time out but can make amends in the Racing UK Day Pass Just £10 Novices’ Chase at Wetherby.

SELECTIONS:

CHELTENHAM: 12.40 Fingertips, 1.15 Vicente, 1.50 Sego Success, 2.25 BUYWISE (NAP), 3.00 Un Ace, 3.35 Western Way, 4.05 Copper Kay.

WETHERBY: 12.20 Shine Away, 12.55 Vodka Wells, 1.30 Who You For, 2.05 Supreme Asset, 2.40 Bowdler’s Magic, 3.15 Hollywoodien, 3.50 Silver Dragon.

DOUBLE: Buywise and Sego Success.