Hennessy Gold Cup a Shoot-Out Between Pride of Dulcote and Joncol

Eleven stand-out chasers are set to contest one of the premier Grade 1 events on the National Hunt circuit as the 2011 Hennessy Gold Cup unfolds at Leopardstown this Sunday. The two short-price favourites both have bigger aspirations but the talented group of outside selections could be set to derail smooth progress en route to Cheltenham.

Pride of Dulcote is already making some claims for his stake in the Cheltenham Gold Cup and an out of form Kauto Star certainly opens up the race. Paul Nicholls talented eight year-old enters off back-to-back scores in his only two efforts this campaign. He was an impressive runner-up to Weapon’s Amnesty in the Albert Bartlett last year and, though this is a step up in class, his progression off the novice circuit looks appropriately well-timed. He has not run at Leopardstown and that may be the reason why his price won’t drop substantially.

Last year’s winner Joncol has plenty of experience at Leopardstown, having never finished off the board in any of his three attempts. His season ended when he took the 2010 edition over Cooldine and he has since been undone by Big Zeb and Pandorama in his other two efforts. The gamble between these two seems to be familiarity with the surface vs race-winning form.

There are still plenty of others in the mix, however, and the notables include Money trix, China Rock, Cooldine and The Listener. The latter might be disregarded based on a poor record at the Irish racecourse but China Rock definitely deserves respect despite two tame efforts at Leopardstown on the novice circuit years ago. He’s run 113 in his selective campaign this year and has been pointed towards this one since a third-place finish to King Kauto in November. He achieved career-best figures on the day and will be set to show off Mouse Morris’ ability to hit well with laid-off contenders.

Money Trix will be dangerous if he can stay in the mix early and run a mistake-free race. He is a bit of a different story being eleven, but he could roll back the years in this one – a second-place finish to Pandorama over course and distance in the Lexus Chase could be an important reference.