On
November 29, one of the most competitive handicap races of the whole
National Hunt season will be staged at Newbury as the Hennessy Gold
Cup provides another thrilling spectacle with plenty of serious
Cheltenham Festival contenders amongst what is sure to be a
high-quality field of staying chasers.
Ahead
of the big event betting firms are struggling to find a favourite and
bet 10/1 the field. Take your pick from such as Fingal Bay [pictured], Djakadam,
Smad Place, Many Clouds, Rocky Creek, and many, many more. The same
horses can all be backed
at 11.0 or bigger on Betfair.
It
may well be the case that by the time the runners go down to the
start at the Berkshire track a clear favourite will have emerged
having either put up a notable performance in the interim or been the
subject of a major off-course ante-post gamble. The Hennessy Gold Cup
has a history of producing smart performances by horses that often go
on to excel at the Cheltenham Festival four months later. In recent
renewals Paul Nicholls’ superb Denman (winner in both 2007 &
2009) went on to land the Cheltenham Gold Cup, while Nicky
Henderson’s Bobs Worth
won the 2012 ‘Hennessy’ before following up in the blue riband
event in the spring of 2013 in tremendous style.
It’s
not only Gold Cup winners who come out of the Hennessy field. Plenty
of horses have run well in the race before going on to land other big
prizes, including the feature handicaps at the Cheltenham Festival
and other major spring Festivals at Aintree and Punchestown. The
Newbury contest is definitely one to keep a close eye as the cream of
the staying handicap chasers, many of whom are graded class and often
close to Grade 1 level, take each other on in what is always a
tremendous spectacle.
With
the Philip Hobbs team probably in better shape than any of the other
major yards at this stage of the campaign it would be dangerous not
to seriously consider the chance of his likeable Fingal Bay, formerly
a very classy staying hurdler who has done well since making the
transitions to the larger obstacles. His win last season in the
listed Pertemps
Network Handicap Hurdle final
at the Cheltenham Festival shows what a versatile horse the
eight-year-old son of King’s Theatre is.
His
gutsy nose defeat of Southfield Theatre was a tremendous effort
following a pleasing reappearance win at Exeter a month earlier. That
came on the back of a long absence as the result of sustaining a
serious injury early on in what had already become a very useful
novice chasing career in autumn 2012. After his win at Cheltenham,
Fingal Bay headed to the Punchestown Festival and contested the Grade
1 Ladbrokes World Series Hurdle, but could only finish fifth behind
Jetson, a performance that convinced Hobbs that his charge was just a
little short of the top rung over timber and that he should
concentrate on chasing this season. There’s every chance that the
likeable stayer could well prove a star over fences this season.
Another
interesting contender for the Hennessy Gold Cup is Alan King’s Smad
Place, a really tough performer who rarely runs a bad race. Twice
placed third in the World Hurdle, Smad Place took really well to
fences last season winning nicely at Exeter and at Newbury before
going down with all guns blazing in a terrific
renewal of the Grade 1 RSA Chase
at the Cheltenham Festival. That race, often seen as a contest won by
horses with future Gold Cup pretentions, eventually went the way of
the Rebecca Curtis-trained O’Faolains Boy who wore down King’s
game performer in the shadow of the post to score by a neck.
Like
Fingal Bay, Smad Place will have his fair share of weight at Newbury
but he looks a potential high-class chaser and could prove hard to
beat if he is fully wound up on what is likely to be his first start
of the campaign.
Oliver
Sherwood’s Many Clouds has already thrown down his Hennessy Gold
Cup marker in making an impressive winning reappearance in a listed
chase at Carlisle in early-November, staying on in fine style to beat
Nicky Richards’ Eduard and the Jonjo O’Neill-trained Holywell,
favourite with some firms in the ante-post market for the Cheltenham
Gold Cup itself.
Many
Clouds was useful last term, and the Trevor Hemmings-owned stayer
appears to have come to hand early this campaign and is on the
upgrade. He looks just the right sort for the Newbury contest and is
sure to prove popular on the big day in what is invariably a hot
betting contest with so many horses being relatively unexposed and
thought capable of better, not only by connections, but also by the
betting public.