The Cheltenham Gold Cup Field: The Challengers

While the top four contenders in this race obviously attract plenty of headlines, there are a number of talented jumpers who float around the 10/1-20/1 corridor who could be poised to make a major statement this year.

The most notable outside selection looks to be Kempes. He enters the race fresh off a Grade 1 score at Leopardstown in mid-February and his three-race campaign looks to set him up nicely for the festival showpiece. Prior to that, he scored in a Grade 1 novice chase at the Punchestown Festival in 2010 with McCoy up, but could only manage a third-place finish to Golden Silver in his seasonal debut at Fairyhouse. He was right up there in contention in his Leopardstown effort around Christmas, but blundered badly and unseated AP when they were two out and had every chance. His only previous attempt at Cheltenham was a forgettable twelfth from twenty in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle back in 2009. Notably, Kempes has halved in price since the market debuted. He was initially priced at 20/1 but has drifted down to 10/1 with most major bookmakers. He looks a genuine live-wire but needs to step it up big time to conquer this field.

Despite a nearly flawless record, Noel Meade came out this week and actually played down Pandorama’s chances of Gold Cup glory by noting his relative lack of experience. The venerable Irish conditioner did declare that Pandorama looks great in training and appears to be in cracking form, but could be undone by a lack of experience at this level and over the surface. A win here is probably not the ultimate goal, so keep your eye on him in the TBP markets where he floats around 5.0 on the exchanges.

All three of Midnight Chase’s efforts this year have been winning ones at Cheltenham, so you can’t really ask for a better prep campaign than that. He wasn’t exactly tackling Grade 1 competition but a credible Garde 3 score over the likes of Any Currency and Ballyfitz lends credibility to his claims. I expect Midnight Chase to finish the race as he’s shown the ability to make an error and then battle back. In fact, his last two races involved mistakes but he still went on to win looking very game. This nine year-old has a lot to prove and, though he looks out of contention from a ratings standpoint, he could be much more of a factor as he looks at home over the surface.

Tidal Bay certainly boasts ambitious connections as he’s pointed at the biggest race of the year in just his first season on the chasing circuit. He is winless in the 2010/11 campaign but has hit the board each time to some fairly impressive company. The second place finish to Imperial Commander in the Betfair Chase is as solid as ever while a third-place finish to Fair Along on a seasonal debut is credible as well. His most recent outing was a second place finish to Neptune Collonges in the Argento Chase at Cheltenham. He matched career-best figures with that one and it remains his best-ever effort over timber. You can’t say that he’s ducked anybody and he’ll be more comfortable against this field than some of the shorter-priced selections in the challenging pack. Look for him around 20/1 with most major bookmakers but an abnormally low price on the exchanges.