Gold run beckons for Earlofthecotswolds

Smart hurdler has been a revelation switched to the Flat.

Nigel Twiston-Davies will send Earlofthecotswolds straight to the Ascot Gold Cup following his All-Weather Marathon win at Newcastle.

The five-time hurdles winner has been outstanding since he switched to the Flat, with two wins at Kempton and another at Newcastle.

Those victories have earned the Cheltenham Gold Cup and Grand National-winning trainer almost GBP 100,000, well in excess of what he has earned in his career previously.

The eight-year-old, who has won three of his five all-weather races and 11 of 30 starts overall, is now on course to take on Prix du Cadran and dual Long Distance Cup winner Trueshan, and Friday’s Yorkshire Cup hero Stradivarius, who seeks a fourth Gold Cup success.

Earlofthecotwolds is currently around 33-1 for the two-and-a-half-mile showpiece on June 16.

Willie Twiston-Davies, the trainer’s son who retired from the saddle in 2017 to become a bloodstock agent, is responsible for buying Earlofthecotswolds, whose all-the-way victory at Newcastle put him in line for a crack at the feature race on Ladies Day at the Royal meeting.

Part-owned by Ged Mason, the German-bred gelding will go straight to the Berkshire track, rather than taking in the Henry II Stakes.

The trainer said: “He will go straight to the Gold Cup – he won’t go to Sandown. He is in good form, all brilliant, and we’re looking forward to it.”

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