Cooldine Gold Cup Chances

Very little appears to be able to stop Paul Nicholls from winning this year’s Cheltenham Gold Cup on Friday March 19th and certainly with both Denman and Kauto Star taking centre stage, the other runners appear to have faded into the background in what has become this year’s most anticipated horse racing show down.

But the Irish, Willie Mullins trained eight year old Cooldine is looking like an excellent prospect should the two favourites not compete as expected, in fact, following his performance in the Hennessy Gold Cup at Leopardstown at the beginning of February, where he came second to Joncol, he has shown a true return to form. Last year saw him win the Dr. P.J. Moriarty Novice Chase in Leopardstown in February which preceded his impressive RSA Chase victory at Cheltenham the following month. In winning the RSA he was no less impressive than Denman had been in the same race two years previously, so it looks like things are looking promising for Cooldine and his team in this year’s Cheltenham Festival.

There was big disappointment for Cooldine’s return race at the end of December 2009, the Lexus Chase, where Ruby Walsh chose to ride him over What A Friend, showing the faith that there is in his abilities. Unfortunately for all concerned, he was pulled up, but there was a big change in the bay gelding for the Hennessy Gold Cup which has reignited not just his trainer Willie Mullin’s hope in him, but also the punters and the bookmakers, who have given him odds as low as 10/1 for the Cheltenham Gold Cup.

It has been speculated that his form is likely to be even better than it was in February by the time of the Cheltenham Festival in mid-March. Whether he will be a realistic threat to the Nicholl’s stable clan is yet to be seen, but he is definitely considered a worthy opponent and is currently at 12/1 with Paddy Power Bookmakers in the Cheltenham Festival ante-post odds so is still excellent value as an each-way bet.