The final day of Cheltenham Festival 2012 has arrived – Gold Cup Day – on Friday 16th March 2012.
Following three days of fantastic national hunt horse racing, the third of which saw the well-backed The Global Herald nap, Big Buck’s win in tremendous style, the biggest of the big chasing horses come together for the ultimate test: the 2012 Cheltenham Gold Cup, at 15:20 GMT.
The Gold Cup has been pitched very much as a match between last years winner, Long Run, and Paul Nicholls’ twelve year old multiple Gold Cup winner, Kauto Star.
It is a race which many feel is a contest, also, between heart and head: the heart saying “Kauto Star,” while the head says “Long Run” will win out over the slightly longer trip, despite Kauto Star rolling back the years in the King George earlier this season.
For the price, Fortuno opts to tip the balance in Kauto Star‘s favour, and recommends an each-way bet which would see a miniscule profit for a Kauto Star place, at current odds of 9/2, and a healthy one should he strip as fit as his brilliant best. If both Kauto Star and Long Run were eight year olds, and both were right at their best level, it would still be difficult to say, with any certainty, which would win this race. One feels that ten runs could produce a 5-5 tie. That’s what makes the 2012 Gold Cup so special.
Of the other events on Friday, Fortuno recommends BOSTON BOB in the 14:40 third race – the Novices Hurdle – as the best bet of the day, but also notes that if Roulez Cool can return to near his best after two years away from running under rules (the horse has a couple of Point to Point runs since then), this horse has solid each-way prospects at a price likely to be in double figures in the Foxhunters amateur event at 16:00.
Full tips for the fourth and final day of Cheltenham Festival 2012 are detailed below.
Cheltenham Festival 2012 Tips – Friday 16 March 2012
- Race 1 – 13:30 (JCB Triumph Hurdle) – Balder Succes
- Race 2 – 14:05 (County Handicap hurdle) – Plan A
- Race 3 – 14:40 (Novices Hurdle) – Boston Bob
- Race 4 – 15:20 (Cheltenham Gold Cup) – Kauto Star
- Race 5 – 16:00 (Foxhunters Chase) – Roulez Cool
- Race 6 – 16:40 (Martin Pipe conditional Jockeys Hurdle) – Molotof
- Race 7 – 17:15 (Grand Annual Chase) – Astracad
