led, ridden 2 out, headed approaching last, kept on one pace flat
held up in rear, headway and effort 3 out, weakened next
held up towards rear, headway to track leaders 14th, ridden and effort approaching 2 out, one pace under pressure
tracked leader, not fluent 11th, blundered badly next, ridden and weakened approaching 3 out
tracked leaders, losing place when mistake 13th, soon tailed off, pulled up before 2 out
held up in rear, pushed along 4 out, headway and effort approaching 2 out, no extra approaching last
mistakes, in touch, mistake and drop rear 4th, ridden 4 out, rallied approaching 3 out, mistake, soon weakened
The memory of First Gold's all-the-way victory in this race last year will live long in the mind but we think he might be vulnerable this year with our vote going to Tiutchev over First Gold, Fondmort and Valley Henry. The Martin Pipe-trained selection will be ridden by Tony McCoy, and the Queen Mother Champion Chase third proved himself effective at three miles when finishing runner-up in the King George VI Chase at Kempton. That is solid form and a repeat of that level of form might see him land the Martell Cup. Admittedly, the weights favoured First Gold in last year's race but, rejuvenated by blinkers, he jumped from fence to fence and came home an easy win. Our confidence, however, in him for today is tempered by the fact that he looked to have a fairly hard race in the Cheltenham Gold Cup last time, although he should still make a bold bid to land the spoils. The Paddy Power Gold winner, Fondmort, showed that he is still improving with a battling third under top weight in the Mildmay Of Flete last time, while Valley Henry, who ran a blinder to finish fourth in last season's Gold Cup, was a well-beaten fourth in this race last season when sent off as favourite. However, having missed Cheltenham, he comes here fresher than most and a return to somewhere near his best form would give him a very good chance of success. Cyfor Malta has a 17lb turnaround in the weights for the 33 lengths he finished behind Fondmort in the Paddy Power Gold Cup, but he hasn't really sparkled so far this term; Seebald has yet to prove he stays this far; Hand Inn Hand will have his jumping tested on this fairly tight circuit and Glenelly Gale has a good bit to find on official ratings. Overall, then, in what is an interesting line-up for this Grade 1 event, we will side with Tiutchev.
