Race	Horse
1.20 Triumph Hurdle	Highland Crystal
2.10 County Handicap Hurdle	Helvic Dream
2.40 The Liberthine Mares’ Chase	Panic Attack
3.20 Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle	Mandoui’boy
4.00 Cheltenham Gold Cup	Gaelic Warrior
4.40 Princess Royal Challenge Cup Open Hunters’ Chase	Panda Boy
5.20 Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys Handicap Hurdle	Kel Histoire

 

It is a sign of the quality of this year’s Gold Cup that there are so many good horses that will barely get a mention. Envoi Allen (Ryanair, Ballymore and Champion Bumper), L’Homme Presse (Brown Advisroy, Dipper and Cotswold Chase), Inothewayurthinkin (Kim Muir and this race), Haiti Couleurs (National Hunt Challenge Cup and December Meeting Novices’ Limited Handicap Chase), Jango Baie (Arkle and December Meeting Novice Chase), Gold Tweet (Cleeve Hurdle), Grey Dawning (Turners) and Spillanes Tower (Cotswold Chase) are all examples of horses in this race that have already won races here at Cheltenham.

But there are two other horses who are getting most of the column inches. The Jukebox Man is famously owned by former football manager Harry Redknapp and if he can win here he might almost be considered his biggest sporting triumph! He has won each of his last four races, culminating in the King George at Kempton over Christmas where he beat Gaelic Warrior and Jango Baie. Gaelic Warrior’s owner (or strictly speaking her husband) is also famous for reasons outside of horseracing, but he has certainly proved he can be successful within the sport, not least when his mare Lossiemouth won the Champion Hurdle on Tuesday. The horse has not won since the first appearance of the season but has always been in the places and will have been trained for this race all season knowing Willie Mullins’ modus operandi. As a winner of the Arkle, Gaelic Warrior also belongs on the previous list, crucially though The Jukebox Man does not. This is the crucial reason why Willie Mullins and Rich Ricci’s horse is the selection for this, the feature race of the meeting.