Sandown Park Racecourse gears up for an exciting weekend of racing, hosting the bet365 Gold Cup on Saturday and a fantastic flat card on Friday, featuring Graded and Group contests. The bet365 Gold Cup has produced two remarkable winners in recent years, with both Hewick (2022) and Kitty’s Light (2023) going on to excel in top competitions, including the King George VI Chase and Grand National respectively.
This year’s Gold Cup sees Kitty’s Light as the prominent favorite, having displayed exceptional form recently and thriving on the Surrey track. He has consistently placed in the top three of this race in the past three renewals, making him a strong contender once again. However, it would be a demanding task for the eight-year-old gelding, who recently finished fifth in the Grand National just two weeks prior. Nevertheless, he demonstrated his resilience by winning the Scottish National last year before claiming victory in this race just a week later.
Following the Gold Cup is the Celebration Chase, scheduled for 3:00 pm, which could witness the highly anticipated rematch between El Fabiolo and Jonbon, a rivalry that was ignited in the 2023 Arkle at Cheltenham Festival. Since then, El Fabiolo has maintained an impressive winning streak before encountering a setback in the Queen Mother Champion Chase, where he stumbled severely and had to be pulled up.
Hard not to fancy this stamina specialist, who plugged on incredibly well to place in the Grand National two weeks ago. He loves it at Sandown, placing in this race twice before winning last year. He’s still only eight-years-old and clearly has plenty of running left in him and he’s as tough as the rest in the field. Especially as he’s not been bumped up in the weights for that place effort, only 5lb higher than when winning this last year. That came a week after his Scottish National win and he’s certainly in top form.
An Bradan Feasa is only four-years-old but has held his own in two tough contests this year, placing fourth in listed company to Liari, Roaring Legend and Balboa. He then went to the juvenile handicap hurdle and was a respectable eighth in tough conditions in a stacked field. This is a little easier but still has a plethora of top horses, but he’s been dropped another 3lb which makes him a huge chance at a massive price.
The same can be said for the unexposed Maasai Mara who’s going to carry very little as he’s rated just 119. But that’s still potentially too low for his potential having shown real ability winning at Catterick in February, beating Golden Maverick comfortably, before placing just four lengths off Insurrection last time out, which saw him go up 7lb. Those two went nicely clear of the rest of the field and it was possible he could have got even closer had he not been bumped heading into the last hurdle.
He’s been in fantastic form this season, always going for the big contests and often runs with huge credit. His second place effort behind Gerri Colombe last time out and he clearly thrives over a bit further than 2½ miles. This track also seems to be calling to him as he could relish the way it’s set out and plug on against these rivals.
Bachasson might be the one to watch in the market at 14/1 though, trained by Willie Mullins, off for over a year and 13-years-old but could still be a big winner for the veteran. While it was a concerning run for the 2/9 favourite, that very run makes him close to evens for this race which would be unheard of had he ran well. Willie Mullins will have him in the best condition and he’s looking to claim the British Champion Trainer title this weekend and could add a huge gap to his lead with this victory with nearly £100k on offer.
Jonbon and Gaelic Warrior present El Fabiolo’s biggest threats, but Jonbon has to reappear after just two weeks having bypassed Cheltenham Festival and did well being upped to 2m4f for the first time at Aintree’s Melling Chase. Gaelic Warrior might be the future of the 2m chases for Mullins, but he’s only six-years-old and should be the danger next season after he’s given another summer to progress further. All odds correct at time of writing
