Joe Livens Up Gold Cup Market

Joe Lively earned himself a shot at the Cheltenham Gold Cup after his shock win in the Letheby & Christopher Chase at Cheltenham on Jan 24th. He had many Gold cup hopefuls behind him in the race which he led virtually throughout and still managed to overcome a penultimate fence blunder to stay on and win from favourite, Halcon Generlardais and Tidal Bay. He has a quote of 33/1 for the Gold Cup, but he also has a Grand National entry and is a 20/1 bet for that.

Three from home it looked like the Nicholls/Walsh partnership were in for another big win when Star De Mohaison loomed up still on the bridle, but inexplicably he ran out of gas and dropped away in tame fashion. It is unlikely that he will now take his chance in the Gold Cup, probably going for the William Hill instead.

Possibly the class horse in the race was last year’s Arkle winner, Tidal Bay, but once again he had a lack of momentum when taking his fences and he too is likely to miss the Gold Cup, instead going for the Ryanair Chase, for which he is now third favourite at 6/1 behind Voy Por Ustedes.

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