Having just watched the Timico Gold Cup at Cheltenham, I can’t help feeling that Cue Card blew what looked to be like a huge chance. While I was on the winner Don Cossack having preferred the big gelding to  the Willie Mullins trained Djakadam, my heart was with Cue Card who was my other bet in the race.

Cue Card raced behind the leading four for most of the race and as the pressure increased and Smad Place dropped out of contention Cue Card looked for a way through and after the fourth last found it and moved ominously to the front. Then coming up to the third last fence it looked like he just didn’t come up for the jump, ploughed straight through it and his chance was gone.

Don Cossack after that looked in control and while Djakadam kept on trying to close the favourite had the race in his control and won by 4 1/2 lengths. There was a further 10 lengths back to Don Poli, also trained by Willie Mullins.

Why did I picked these two horses to put my money on? First off on rating Cue Card and Don Cossack came out on top with the winner being my strongest selection, and a much better price in the morning too. I was also encouraged by Cue Card’s three wins over the course, which can often be a very important factor especially on the top class courses.

While I think Channel 4’s The Morning Line has gone seriously downhill in recent years, at least where talking about the actual racing is concerned, I did catch Tom Segal (Pricewise) say that he felt Don Cossack had the best chance in the race. While he rarely tips short priced horses, Tom Segal is a shrewd judge and without any doubt he knows exactly what he is talking about. He’s very modest about it too.

In closing, it’s obviously impossible to know if Cue Card would have continued his solid run and beaten Don Cossack but there’s no doubt in my mind that he would have given the eventual winner a battle. Unfortunately we’ll never know if Colin Tizzard’s top horse would have lifted the Cup and next year at 11 years of age it’s less likely he’ll run as well, if he runs.

As I have said many times before, racing is a tough game and if you can’t take the downs along with the ups, you’d better get off the rollercoaster. For anyone wanting to learn more about racing and how Aida Racing could help you improve your strike rate, strategy and overall chances of coming out on top, give us a call.

Thanks for reading

Neil Davies