Cheltenham Gold Cup Betting Guide

“He is having a right old blow. We knew he would improve and hopefully that should just tighten him up. Sam said he was taking the mickey out of him most of the way round and running away. That was just what we wanted. It just shows you how good he is. He is a hugely impressive horse and we've left plenty to work on. I think he will just keep on improving. Mind you he'll need to. He had to do win like that if he was going to go to the Gold Cup with a chance and he didn't really disappoint us. He has done everything perfectly and outclassed his rivals. He came up a bit long at the cross fence but he never felt like falling.”

“I think that performance smelt of a horse that is ready for a proper race and next month he'll get it. He was an incredible price for punters today at 100-30 on. There was real value to be had for punters and I hope they steamed in like I did. Today he made his first real mistake. I know he is a tank but he also seems to be more of a bulldozer now. His size, his weight, his bulldozerness just smashed him through the fence. There was no real chance of falling. That's another good sign and another weapon to have to know he can really clout one and the jockey might still be in the saddle. Kauto will win next week. I'm so glad they are in the same stable. They are going to get the same treatment, everything is going to be done right and there is no edge or malice to it. Either way it is going to be great for the sport. He had to win and he had to win like that. Denman will be setting the pace and Kauto will have to catch us but I think the tank might knock him over if he comes near us.”

“I'm never as bullish as Harry (Findlay). I could barely cope with this but I can cope with the Gold Cup because we won't be favourite. I can't wait for it. I think this horse is a huge talent and we have only seen three quarters of him. He was nowhere near fit and you could see him blowing afterwards. He will be fit on Gold Cup day. On Gold Cup day we are going to have to set it and Kauto Star is going to have to come and get us. There will be no hanging about. At the end of the day Kauto Star has a lot of toe and Denman will try and run it out of him. If he can he is better than we are. Simple as that.”

"That is what I expected really. Ruby said this is a hard track to go out and make all, but it was fairly obvious after the first that they weren't going much pace so he let him bowl along. I was slightly worried by the lack of pace but I don't know the track as well as Ruby, so I left it entirely to him and he was always going to gallop all the way to the line. When he won (the Hennessy) he knew he'd had a race, but he's hardly blowing today so he was that much straighter and it was perfect. The Aon would be a possibility next and he will have an entry back here in the Hennessy, but nothing is set in stone. I have options and will sort them out later. Hopefully he will end up at the Gold Cup and, like Kauto Star, will have one more run before."

"March is still far away and that is a decision for another day. They are two very good horses and it has been a great few days for me winning two major races on them. For me Denman was very impressive today. He had to it the hard way and showed that he can do the job regardless of the gallop. He quickened up when I asked him and was always doing enough. He wore out the others."

“Some people might think that wasn't impressive but he beat them well and he was so clever in the air. The best thing is going to be watching the tactics in the Gold Cup - you know the others are inferior and it's effectively a match between Denman and Kauto. I'd have kept him the same price and shortened Kauto Star a bit after that. Kauto was awesome at Kempton, but then again, Exotic Dancer nearly refused when he was in the lead, and My Way De Solzen pulled up. A lot of people who loved him in the Hennessy might try and crab that performance, but the people over here like Eddie O'Grady and Noel Meade who were Denman fans after that last run, they won't crab him because they know that he's a Gold Cup horse. If we weren't a Gold Cup horse, we'd be more like a Welsh National horse than a King George horse. That's the difference between the two horses and that's why Cheltenham will sort them out."

"That was an awesome performance first time out. I didn't believe he would do that. I hadn't put anyone away because he will improve for the run. You just have to look at him to see that. He is having a good blow there. We did as much as we could do bar having a run. He is a huge horse and for me to go and say I think he would win first time out, you just don't do things like that. We've worked hard. We took him to Exeter and done our best to get him as fit as we could today. It was a very good performance."

"I couldn't believe how strung out they were when I had a look round, I hadn't even got out of first gear at that stage. I didn't think we had it won until going down the back because I knew we hadn't gone overly quick. Then he was going so well I knew it would take a fair old horse to get by him. He just kept quickening and galloping and jumping."

"I have always believed we can be an 8lb inferior horse to Kauto Star and still beat him at Cheltenham. On soft ground or heavy ground I think he would be evens. I think if it comes up soft or heavy at Cheltenham, we are a certainty. I hoped that this was what would happen. Paul was a bit negative on Thursday. He must have weighed him and found him a bit heavier than he thought. I think he is a different horse this season. He is much calmer and much sharper mentally."

"An awesome, relentless galloper. Having ended his first season over fences as the leading staying novice, all roads now lead to the Gold Cup, and I hope he doesn't have to meet Kauto Star before Cheltenham in March. One of my biggest problems is getting him ready for his first objective, the Charlie Hall Chase on November 3. He takes an enormous amount of work to get fit, and while it was easy getting him ready for a little novice chase first time out last season, getting him fit enough to tackle the big boys at Wetherby is a different ball-game. He's doing serious mileage, and we're getting there, but it's a slog. I'm wary of not galloping him into the ground, and I get the feeling he'll need his first run. After Wetherby, we won't go to Haydock for the Betfair Chase, as I don't think the sharper layout of the chase track will suit him, but he'll have an entry for the Hennessy. He'd probably carry top weight but, being a huge horse, weight won't bother him, and if he's to be a Gold Cup horse he should run well. Alternatively, there's the Future Stars Intermediate Chase at Sandown. Over Christmas, I'm not looking at the King George, as Kempton wouldn't be his track, but the Lexus Chase at Leopardstown looks a possibility."

"If I had ridden the way I usually ride him I would have been second but what do you do? Should I have followed him round and finished second again or done something different? He'd had four goes at beating him the other way, and I don't regret trying something new."

"He jumped well and everything went right but we changed the tactics and it has cost us second. This was the day to try something different, but it didn't work out. We will go to Cheltenham for the Cotswold Chase next and if that's frosted off the Aon. Then we will go for the Gold Cup."

"I'm absolutely thrilled with our boy still - he's run a blinder. If he doesn't travel well like that through his races, he's no good, so that was much more like it. I would imagine we will now wait for the King George."

"How can you improve on last season, except to win at Kempton and Cheltenham in March? He amazed me really, as I knew he was decent over hurdles but he just kept improving over fences after that initial blip at Carlisle, which was a falsely run farce of a race. In a normal year he would have been hailed a champion, but Kauto Star got in the way twice, so looking at it that way he is something else. He ran his usual peculiar first-time-out race at Aintree on Sunday. He's done it before and we've got to hope that's all it was. He now goes to Haydock for the Betfair Chase."

"(On his post-Ascot injury scare) It's basically pus in his foot. Once the vet and my head lad had released that he was virtually sound. We were quite confident last night as we took his shoe off and that instantly relieved him a bit, so we thought that was what the problem was. It's basically a minor setback and shouldn't affect him too much. He would have had a couple of days off after running anyway and this should clear up within 48 hours, so it shouldn't make too much difference. We were fairly confident it was something simple like that but it's a huge relief. I don't think anyone slept here last night and I was almost afraid to go in this morning to find out what was wrong! I'm absolutely chuffed though, and it's all systems go for the Gold Cup now."

"I wanted him ridden positively. There's no point dropping him out the door and riding him negative. Ride him positive - he stays and jumps better. I said to Ruby this morning that I wanted him third or fourth and just track through. That's the way to ride him and he jumped great. I think he's as well as he's ever been. He looks great we've left plenty to work on again but he was probably a lot fitter than Denman was as he's that type of horse. We just have a month now to keep him spot on. I'm lucky that I've got a great team at home. We've worked hard to train both horses. They will be trained to turn up at Cheltenham on Gold Cup day at their very best. I've got a certain amount of loyalty to Kauto Star as he is the reigning champion. You can see from today's performance he'll be very hard to beat."

"He's just going to take some beating, isn't he? I told Ruby to be positive. Last year the mistake down the back was as much due to Ruby not wanting to hit the front too soon, but if he used his staying power they would never get by him. To me that was as good a performance as anything he's done before. He looks as good as he's ever looked. I was happy enough with him at Aintree but I did think he raced a bit lazily. He is sharp now and still the one they have all got to beat. Denman is still stepping up that ladder but on what we have seen Denman has got to keep progressing."

"I did think he was a bit lazy when beaten last time but I have put him back to working with stayers and he has got his zest right back. The King George would be the plan now and I know that Ruby is itching to get back. I said all along that Aintree was a stepping-stone to here, which is the one that mattered; this, and the Gold Cup, with the King George along the way. He was beaten by a very good horse at Aintree in Monet's Garden, trying to give him a stone. We're back where we belong again now. But were we ever away? He's still the one they've all got to beat in the Gold Cup."

"It just as we thought - Monet's Garden was always going to be hard to beat at the weights. He's a true stayer and wants three miles. They went a fair old gallop early on and we were never going to try and get to involved in that. Monet's Garden's a specialist two-and-a-half-mile horse. It was a great place to start off and we've now got a month to get him ready for the Betfair Chase at Haydock, which is three miles."

"He looks fab and is going nicely at home, working every bit as well as at this corresponding stage last year. He wants a run before his first big objective, the Betfair Chase at Haydock again on November 24, so the Old Roan Chase in 13 days' time looks ideal and that's where we go. Mind you, when he was so impressive in that race last season he raced off a mark of 167, but is on 179 now, so it'll be an amazing performance if he can win it again, especially as I hear that My Way De Solzen and Monet's Garden are possible rivals. They are top-class in their own right, but Kauto will be conceding them masses of weight - he'll be on 11st 10lb and I think they will both be on the minimum 10st 4lb, so he could get beaten by one or both of them, and still put up a blinding performance. I accept that one day he's going to get beaten, but at those weights it would hardly be a disgrace, and he would then spend the rest of the season meeting those sort of horses at levels. If we want to win the King George again, we'll have to give the Tingle Creek a miss this year. Last year there were 24 days between the two races, this time there are only 18. If he attempted the Betfair, Tingle Creek and King George again, that would mean three Grade 1s in the space of the month and that wouldn't be fair on him. In the championship races I'm often asked who will be Kauto's most serious rival this season: Exotic Dancer only has to improve a few pounds to be right up his backside, My Way De Solzen and Denman are clearly very good, while Star De Mohaison is the dark one, but they've all got to improve to get past Kauto. It was awesome what he achieved last season - frustrating, I admit, that he made those silly mistakes, but Ruby knows a lot more about him now, and so do I, and there are a few things we can do to help the horse in that respect."

"How could he have been a 20-1 shot? He would have run in the Peter Marsh, and that wasn't worth as much money - and money is important! We've got to think about the Gold Cup now. It's a realistic target, and he'll be entered in all the big Cheltenham handicaps and the Grand National as well. He's earned his way and, after that, we can afford to enter him for everything. I don't think Paul (Nicholls) will lose much sleep."

"We did enter Mossbank for the Cheltenham Gold Cup yesterday. The Ryanair Chase is the plan anyway. He will go for the Irish Hennessy next and has come out of the Lexus Chase OK. Without a doubt that was the best run of his career and I always thought that he was a very good horse. I would imagine that the trip (two miles and five furlongs) would be right up his alley and I think that he is a better horse on better ground."

"I'm more than pleased. He is improving all the time and has run a cracking race. We ran him today to see how he would fit in at this level and he'll come back here for the Hennessy. He will probably be entered for the Cheltenham Gold Cup, although I imagine the Ryanair Chase will be his target this season."

“He was eighth in the Gold Cup last year and he has given plenty of weight away to all the field there so he has obviously earned another crack at the race. He goes there with a place chance as he wants good ground and he could be the one to be our 1-2-3 in the race that everybody seems to be going on about.”

"One of my favourites; he's tough, genuine and gives his all. Ended last season in great style, winning a Grade 1 at Punchestown, proving that he wants better ground nowadays. He'll have to go for all the top staying chases, but he's not the biggest in the world, so I want to avoid his carrying a penalty for that Punchestown win if possible. I haven't discussed this with John Hales yet, but he could do with Nicky Schofield - who I hope will be vying for the amateurs' title this season - taking 7lb off his back in a good handicap. He could run in the James Nicholson Champion Chase at Down Royal on November 3 if he's ready, but it'll be tight. He´s never shone at Cheltenham and has run a lot of his best races on a flattish track."

"I'm amazed at how well he stayed on considering how far out he was off the bridle."

"I think he may be better over distances short of three miles, but he seemed to be staying on again and nearly got third in the King George. I think he may might be better at a shorter distance because he's got so much speed. He's much lower rated over hurdles and he's a bit difficult to place over fences because he's just in between. We'll have fun with him and find something but you don't want to dishearten them by always putting them against the best. You wouldn't think he'd had a race (in the King George). He ran very credibly. He loses a certain amount of ground by jumping so high and he's not quick when he gets away from the fences, but if you take the winner out the next three are all pretty close. The winner was in a different class and is probably in a different class anywhere."

"Taking him to the King George was always the plan and I was very pleased with him, even though it ended up being a bit of a non-event."

'He has done loads of steady work but this was his first time on grass. He doesn't really want it soft and it was tacky enough for him here. He was never as good a hurdler as a chaser. People said he was well handicapped over hurdles but, as Ruby (Walsh) said, he was handicapped over hurdles on what he'd achieved over hurdles. If he has to take on Denman at Leopardstown so be it — he has to go left-handed. But I'm hoping Denman will go for the Aon at Newbury. I was very, very pleased with that and he will improve tons. He will go to Leopardstown, especially if the going is good. That ground was testing out there today.'

"It's great to have him back. He's been cantering away for the last three weeks and I hope he'll be ready to run mid-December, though I don't know where yet. Obviously I hope he can progress into being a Gold Cup horse. He showed he was going the right way when we last saw him, beating The Listener at Sandown in December."