24 left in Thomas Pink There will be a big rise in the weights after a total of 24 horses were confirmed today for the Thomas Pink Gold Cup at Cheltenham on Saturday. The top five in the handicap - Fadalko, Legal Right, Bellator, Cenkos and Geos - have all been withdrawn. The new topweight is Young Spartacus, trained by Henry Daly, who will now carry 11st 10lb - a stone more than originally allotted. Possible Irish challengers are Arctic Copper and Kings Valley (both trained by Noel Meade) and Palouse (Philip Rothwell). The field is headed by current favourite Shooting Light, trained by Martin Pipe who is responsible for four of the entries. The Thomas Pink was won last year by the Pipe-trained Lady Cricket who beat stablemate Exit Swinger in last year`s first running of the race - previously known as the Mackeson and the Murphy`s Gold Cup - under its new sponsorship. Lady Cricket will, as expected, now miss the race but may appear in the Tripleprint Gold Cup over the same course anddistance on December 15th. Exit Swinger is among the possibles.
