Haldon Gold Cup at Exeter

easily the most interesting race today is the Haldon Gold Cup, a valuable handicap chase over an extended 2 miles at 15.15 CET at Exeter. Two previious winners are in the line-up today Cue Card (Colin Tizzard/ Daryl Jacob), who won in 2012 and nowmeets lat year´s winner Somersby (Mick Channlon/ Brian Hughes) on 9 lbs better trms than when he was third in 2013. Cue Card is clearly the best horse in the field, but has a massive weight, and despite his previous good form here, this distance is not ideal, as he is being prepared for the King George over 3 miles, in which he was runner-up last year. Somersby is a horse we really like, but he is not so well handicapped this time, and neither is last year´s smart novice Balder Succes (Alan King/ Wayne Hutchinson), who is held by God´s Own (Tom George/ Paddy Brennan) on Punchestown form. These are all smart performers and could well win, but the one we fancy at these weights is Pepite Rose (Venetia Williams/ Aidan Coleman), who gets weight from all the above-named. Williams usually takes time to get into top form, but her horses are running really well right now. Two ex-Gerrman horses who could run well at a big price on this card are Amanto at 14.45 and Ordensritter at 17.15.
Despite the stars running at Exeter, the potentially best horse running today is The Tullow Tank (Dessie Hughes/ Adrian Heskin) who makes his chasing debut at 15,55 at Fairyhouse in Ireland. He was a top novice hurdler last year, and a Grade One winner at this track, when trained by the disgraced Philip Fenton.
Flat racing on turf is almost finished for this year, but there are some large fields at Redcar, where we like German-bred Noble Alan (Nicky Richards/ Tom Eaves) at 15.30 and Armelle (Scott Dixon/ Louis Steward) at 17.00.


Betting forecast:
1. Race: Thomas Brown - Vago Collonges - Kingscourt Native
2. Race: Hello George - Jollyallan - King`s Tempest
3. Race: Balder Succes - Cue Card - Somersby
4. Race: Carraig Mor - If In Doubt - Carole`s Destrier
5. Race: Ziga Boy - Ballinvarrig - Benbane Head
6. Race: Royal Native - Bilidn - Dream Deal
7. Race: Ullswater - Tashkaldou - Snowball