As the joke goes, come 3.30pm on Friday it really could be a case of déjà vu all over again in the Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup. A year after Minella Indo led home his stable companion A Plus Tard and Al Boum Photo in jump racing’s most coveted prize, the trio are back in pursuit of ‘Blue Riband’ glory.
Added to the mix are new players in Galvin and Protektorat as well as Tornado Flyer whose dubious lot it is to be perhaps the most ignored King George winner ever to line up in a Gold Cup.
Various tenuous arguments can be made too for a number of outsiders although the last real Gold Cup ‘springer’ to pop up was the 20-1 Lord Windermere in 2014. On that occasion Davy Russell famously won the day on the track and in the steward’s room.
The veteran former champion jockey i …
- March 18, 2022
