Cotswold second Whacker firmly on course for Festival date

‘The Gold Cup has been the plan all the time and it still is’.

Patrick Neville is not giving up his Gold Cup dream with The Real Whacker after seeing his stable star fill the runner-up spot in Saturday’s Cotswold Chase.

The eight-year-old won his first three starts over fences at Cheltenham last season, completing his hat-trick with a rousing victory over Gerri Colombe in the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase.

He made an inauspicious start to the current campaign after pulling up in the Paddy Power Gold Cup, but did return with a minor injury, and a fourth-placed finish in the King George at Kempton on Boxing Day was a step in the right direction.

Neville was hoping a return to Cheltenham might result in a first victory of the campaign over the weekend and while he dropped to the rear of the field on the approach the final fence, there was much to like about the way he stayed on up the hill to finish best of the rest behind Capodanno.

“He’s come back in good form, he’s fresh and well,” said the North Yorkshire-based Irishman.

“I said at the start of the season we were aiming for one day – the Gold Cup has been the plan all the time and it still is.

“I was reading somewhere that he put two bad runs behind him, but on his first run he struck into himself, so there was an excuse for that, and I thought the King George run was a very good run.

“We took a lot out of his run on Saturday. Bypassing the second-last fence didn’t help us and he got a little bit outpaced turning in, but it was his first time in a proper battle, which he realised, and I liked the way he stayed on from the last.”

The Real Whacker and Patrick Neville last week
The Real Whacker and Patrick Neville (Ashley Iveson/PA)

The Real Whacker is a best priced 66-1 for the Gold Cup with bet365, who make last year’s winner Galopin Des Champs the evens favourite and his old rival Fastorslow second in the market at 9-2.

Neville added: “Of course you’d have big respect for Galopin, but after that it’s wide open.

“You can’t beat course form, we know our horse loves the track and with a clear run now, we’re happy to take him on, no problem.

“He comes alive for the spring – he’s a spring horse and not a winter horse. We’d be hoping for a bit nicer ground as the ground on Saturday was dead and on better ground he should improve again.

“I think with that good run under his belt, with that bit more experience, I think he can improve and we’re happy with where we are.”

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