Coral Cup

The Coral Cup is the fifth race on the second day of the Cheltenham Festival. The race is a Grade 3 handicap hurdle, open for horses aged four and above. Run over an approximate distance of 2 miles and 5 furlongs, there is a total of ten hurdles to be jumped. The race was introduced to the festival in 1993, and it has been sponsored by Coral since it’s inception to the Festival.

The history shows a typically competitive handicap, with just one winning favourite in the last ten years. Six of the ten winners went off at double-digit odds. Despite the number of winners at double-digit odds, the trends still show a good selection of winners have had solid form in the season at a reasonable level. This indicates to me that many horses that win will have shown decent form through the season but have been overlooked in the market. The Betfair Hurdle at Newbury and the Boylesports.com Hurdle at Leoparstown have proven to be useful trial races for likely contenders, with several winners coming from the races, so it is important to assess the horses and form that comes from these two races.

Cashing In With The Coral Cup Winner

As with several of the other races that don’t match the top class billing, it’s difficult to know the likely contenders until nearer the time of the race. The market is headed by Paul Nicholls’ Poungach who is lightly raced and lost nothing in defeat to the top class Oscar Whisky last time out. Carlito Brigante, last year’s Coral Cup Winner, also holds a strong position in the market and has to be respected if taking his chance again. Plenty others are interesting but there’s little point assessing the race until we know for sure who will be running.

Carlito’s Way In 2011 Coral Cup

The 2011 Coral Cup was won by the Gordon Elliott trained Carlito Brigante. We haven’t seen enough of him yet this season, but several others who were in the field that day have proven to be useful sorts when taking to the novice chasing ranks.

Fifth-placed Solix has taken well to chasing after some slack jumping on his debut. Two wins and a second place behind the useful Champion Court is good form and he will likely be popular if taking a less challenging route at this year’s festival. Seventh-placed Walkon has also impressed going chasing. He beat a couple of good quality horses in Zaynar and Notus De La Tour on his debut, before some poor jumps cost him when he was behind Cue Card at Newbury. For Non Stop, who fell when challenging approaching the finish, has impressed in his last two outings. He went down just a neck to last year’s Supreme Novices winner Al Ferof at Sandown, before coming second to Cue Card in the same race Walkon contested. Call The Police, who was back in eleventh, has won his sole chase start for Willie Mullins but it is difficult to assess that fully.