Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury

An excellent card at Newbury today is headed by the Hennessy Gold Cup, one of the top handicaps of the year for staying chasers and scheduled to be off at 15.40 CET. Numerous stars have won this race - Denman last year and going back a bit, Arkle and Mill House , all Gold Cup winners, - and although one cannot see any of today´s runners winning at Cheltenham it is still a high-class renewal and a very open event with 16 runners. Charlie Mann has made very optimistc noises regarding his German-bred Air Force One (Noel Fehily) and this one could well start favourite. Paul Nicholls has had some setbacks the last few day, but still holds a strong hand here with 3 runners, of which Big Buck´s (Sam Thomas) would appear the main hope based on jockey bookings. Slim Pickings (Tom Taaffe/ Paddy Flood) comes over from Ireland with a clear chance, while Snoopy Loopy (Peter Bowen/ Seamus Durack), despite his high profile win last week, has apparently been written off by Timeform. Nicky H enderson has his string in great form and Oedipe (Andrew Tinkler) has to be respected; although not the most consistent, he is lightly-race and won well at Aintree in April with this jockey. Bottom-weight Island Flyer /Tom George/ Denis O´Regan) also has prospects in what promises to be a great race. The main reason O´Regan is at Newbury is to ride the wonderful Inglis Drever in the Grade 2 Long Distance Hurdle at 15.05. This outstanding stayer has won the race for the past 3 seasons and is always at his best on his seasonal debut. Although he tends to run in snatches, he still looks hard to beat today and should reverse Aintree form with Blazing Baileys (Alan King/ Robert Thornton), who has always finished behind him at Cheltenham and here. Nigel Twiston-Davies´ improving Pettifour (Paddy Brennan) has won his last 4 races and could be a threat. Other interesting runners here are German-bred Peppertree Lane (Bowen/ Durack), who mkes his hurdlkes debut in a strong field for the novice hurdle at 13.25, and the moody Saintsaire (Wayne Kennedy), having his first race for new trainer Andrew Hales in the 2 mile handicap chase at 14.35, a race he has already won twice, but in between has put up many poor performances for top trainers Nicky Henderson and Paul Nicholls.

Betting forecast:
1.Race: American Trilogy - Cockney Trucker - Unfurled
2.Race: Calusa Caldera - Tricky Trickster - Shouldhavehadthat
3.Race: Petit Robin - Predateur - The Wicketkeeper
4.Race: Inglis Drever - Blazing Bailey - Duc De Regniere
5.Race: Big Buck`S - Air Force One - Character Building
6.Race: Private Be - Yes Sir - Randwick Roar
7.Race: Prince Taime - Squadron - Pires