Trials Day Produces Cheltenham Gold Cup Tips

Three of the last 13 runnings of the Letheby & Christopher Chase have generated the winner of the totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup in the same season. Last season, the Paul Nicholls-trained Neptune Collonges finished third behind Knowhere prior to filling the same spot behind stablemates Denman and Kauto Star in the totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup, while runner-up Our Vic went on to Festival glory in the Ryanair Chase. In 2007, Cheltenham specialist Exotic Dancer was successful prior to finding only Kauto Star too good in the totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup.

The 2000 Letheby & Christopher Chase was won by the Noel Chance-trained Looks Like Trouble, who returned to Prestbury Park two months later to capture chasing’s top event. The 1999 renewal saw See More Business, who had been successful in the 1998 Letheby & Christopher Chase, finish third to Cyfor Malta and the Paul Nicholls-trained chaser then captured the totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup.

See More Business also landed the Letheby & Christopher Chase in 2001 but was denied the opportunity to win the Gold Cup again when that year’s Festival was cancelled because of the foot and mouth outbreak. The fine chaser ran well to be third in the 2002 totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup. One Man triumphed in the 1997 Letheby & Christopher Chase, the first occasion that the great chaser won at Cheltenham and, after his sixth in that year’s Gold Cup, he returned to Prestbury Park in 1998 to win the Seasons Holidays Queen Mother Champion Chase over two miles at The Festival.

The 1995 Letheby & Christopher Chase went to Master Oats, who beat the previous year’s heroine Dubacilla by 15 lengths. The pair returned to the course two months later to compete in the totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup, filling the same positions and by exactly the same margin.

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