December Gold Cup news

Last year’s winner Poquelin heads the weights for the £150,000 Grade Three December Gold Cup. Paul Nicholls’ charge, fifth in the Paddy Power Gold Cup at The Open in November, is set to shoulder 11st 12lb in his bid to become the first two-time winner of the prestigious two-mile, five-furlong handicap chase.

The December Gold Cup is one of the traditional highlights at The International, which takes place over two days at Cheltenham on Friday, December 10 and Saturday, December 11.

Last month’s Paddy Power Gold Cup hero Little Josh has been allotted 11st 4lb for his bid to become the ninth horse to win both races and the fourth to gain the Paddy Power Gold Cup and December Gold Cup in the same season, following on from Pegwell Bay (1988), Senor El Betrutti (1997) and Exotic Dancer (2006).

Runner-up to Little Josh in the Paddy Power Gold Cup was Dancing Tornado, who has been allotted 10st 11lb for the December Gold Cup and is now 3lb better off with conqueror, disregarding jockey weight allowances. Trained in Ireland by Michael Hourigan, the J P McManus-owned nine-year-old came from off the pace and stayed on well to go down by two and three-quarter lengths.

Hourigan commented: “It’s more than likely that Dancing Tornado will return to Cheltenham for the December Gold Cup. We were very pleased with his run in the Paddy Power Gold Cup and he came out of the race fine.

“Tony McCoy always said that a big handicap chase at Cheltenham would be the ideal race as they would go a decent gallop. Dancing Tornado would be racing off a higher mark at The International but we will take that on the chin, especially as we will be meeting Little Josh on better terms.

“Hopefully, the racing will be on and his jockey will be decided nearer the time. Tony rode him when he was second in last year’s Kerry National whereas Adrian Heskin would be able to take 5lb off again.”

Nicky Henderson has a strong hand with Paddy Power Gold Cup fourth Mad Max (11st 6lb), dual course winner French Opera (11st 7lb), Working Title (10st 1lb) and Dave’s Dream (10st 11lb), winner of the paddypower.com Handicap Chase at The Open, among the potential contenders.

As well as Poquelin, a strong contingent from Nicholls’ Ditcheat stables includes the exciting novice Robinson Collonges (10st 11lb) and Grade One Feltham Novices’ Chase winner Breedsbreeze (10st 11lb), who last raced in February, 2009.

The David Pipe-trained Great Endeavour (10st 5lb) landed the Grade Three Byrne Group Plate over the course and distance at The Festival in March, defeating the Jonjo O’Neill-trained Sunnyhillboy (10st 2lb), and the pair finished sixth and seventh respectively in the Paddy Power Gold Cup last time.

Henrietta Knight went close to landing the December Gold Cup in 2002 when Foly Pleasant only found Fondmort too good. This year, she could be represented by Calgary Bay (10st 6lb) who has twice tasted victory at Cheltenham, including when taking the Grade Two Dipper Novices’ Chase over the course and distance in January, 2009. The seven-year-old also finished sixth behind Imperial Commander in the Grade One totesport Cheltenham Gold last season and was most recently seen out when runner-up in a graduation chase at Bangor on November 10.

Knight explained today: “The December Gold Cup is a possibility for Calgary Bay at the moment, although a lot will depend on the weather improving ahead of next weekend.

“The race he was second in at Bangor was a very trappy race and Calgary Bay is not really a two-miler - the winner was a lot quicker over that trip - and it is a bit difficult to place him at the moment because he hasn’t really got a distance.

“He won over three miles at Doncaster last season and was also successful over the same trip of the December Gold Cup in the Grade Two Dipper Novices’ Chase. He always runs a good race around Cheltenham and I don’t think that he would mind what the ground was like.”

The 10 Irish-trained entries include the Tony Martin-trained pair of recent Naas winner Psycho (11st 1lb) and Northern Alliance (10st 10lb), as well as the Jessica Harrington-trained Roberto Goldback (11st 5lb), Finger Onthe Pulse (10st 10lb) from the Tom Taaffe yard, the Noel Meade-trained Jered (10st 5lb), Jayo (10st 1lb) and Scotsirish (11st 2lb), both handled by Willie Mullins, the Noel Glynn-trained Gonebeyondrecall (9st 13lb) and Duers (9st 12lb) trained by Paul Magnier.

Others of note include the Nicky Richards-trained Noble Alan (10st 6lb), The Sawyer (10st 5lb) from the Bob Buckler stable and the Donald McCain-trained Sports Line (10st 12lb), placed twice in Grade One novice chases last term when trained in Ireland by Mullins.

Pigeon Island (9st 10lb) defeated French Opera to land the Grade Three Johnny Henderson Grand Annual Chase at The Festival in March and is another that could represent the Twiston-Davies yard, while the Howard Johnson-trained Prince De Beauchene (10st 1lb), the Henry Daly-trained Pickamus (10st), Summery Justice (10st) from the Venetia Williams stable, the Charlie Mann-trained Moon Over Miami (9st 12lb), and the Pipe-trained Matuhi (9st 12lb) complete the potential contenders for the December Gold Cup.

THE DECEMBER GOLD CUP

Class One, Grade Three, £150,000 Total Prize Fund. 2.30pm, Cheltenham, Saturday, December 11, 2010. For four-year-olds & upwards, two miles & five furlongs. Penalties: after November 28, a winner of a chase 5lb - no penalty to increase a horse’s weight above 11st 12lb. Entries closed November 23, entries released November 24 (32 entries, 2 subsequently scratched), weights revealed December 1, five-day confirmation stage December 6, final declaration stage, 10.00am, December 9. For figures supplied by Weatherbys and are correct up to & including the racing of Monday, November 29.

Form Horse Age/Wgt Owner Trainer

0/1341-4 MAD MAX (IRE) 8-11-06 Carole Skipworth & Paul Murphy Nicky Henderson

R-32022 DANCING TORNADO (IRE) 9-10-11 J P McManus Michael Hourigan IRE

PFU-130 FINGER ONTHE PULSE (IRE) 9-10-10 J P McManus Tom Taaffe IRE

0F4112 GONEBEYONDRECALL (IRE) 7-9-13 Noel Glynn Noel Glynn IRE

F510-30 PIGEON ISLAND 7-9-10 Raymond Mould Nigel Twiston-Davies

THE FOLLOWING TWO HORSES HAVE BEEN SCRATCHED: CHAPOTURGEON (FR), NOLAND