Gilgamboa

I've had this horse in mind since the last festival. I've had a few early bets, and there's a good chance this fella is quite high on the list. It's a long season all the same.

WH are 16s for him to win any Festival race.

I'll be interested to see how UDS gets on against Blood Cotil tomorrow, as it may give us a good idea about Gilgamboa.

The 20's at the moment from Hills looks great ew value for the Arkle, especially if one of Vautour or UDS don't face each other, plus doubts about Josses Hill.

Now that I've laid my Vautour bet off, I'm on this fellas side for the Arkle at 20's.

Would have gone close in the Supreme imo so hoping for a good run on Boxing Day. I'd expect a future Arkle winner to win that so I'll be disappointed if he doesn't win.

The step up to 2m3 is too much of a concern, as they ran him in the Supreme and not the Neptune.

This Arkle field could cut up massively.

I have also backed gilgamboa  at 26 on here after laying off my vautour arkle bet about 3-4   weeks back ,I think vautour will end up in the jlt and this fella looks a bit of value !

Great minds think alike Foyles!

I actually followed you on TDS for the Gold Cup NRNB as well :-)

good luck to us both then wellchief ,

Should win at Limerick today. Wounded Warrior is a nice horse but as Bryan Cooper mentioned him for the 4 miler at Cheltenham, Gilgamboa should have the speed to deal with him if he is an Arkle horse.

Could be a tough task trying to give 18lb to the Mullins fully.

An impressive win there from Gilgamboa. Is he an Arkle horse or a JLT horse? I'd be thinking JLT? Not sure if JP has anything else for either race?

the old chestnut arkle or jlt ? they say you need a stayer for the arkle so I would go that way plus im on at 20s !!

Me too Tony - here's hoping, for the pair of us!

Think he looked awesome today, surprised he is still 9/1 and 14/1 for each race tbh.

All winning form is on heavy.  Will be a shock to his system were he to run in the arkle on decent ground.
No surprise he's shorter for the JLT.

Mind you he ran better than his finishing position in the supreme hurdle suggests.

Horse has plenty of speed. This may come down to what is likely to line up. The JLT is invariably the easier option but it won't be this year if Valseur Lido pitches up.

The JLT was always the worry when backing this fella for the Arkle.

Trainer says the Irish Arkle is next (over 2m1f), so hopefully that is a pointer to the Cheltenham Arkle?  Trifolium won in last year and ended up in the Arkle, but then Beneficient won it and then won the Jewson, so not really conclusive.

I can't remember the last time JP went in to the Arkle with a real live chance; probably Captain Cee Bee in 2010?

Aside from this Cheltenham target, with Conti and Coneygree, he was the one to take out of all the cards yesterday.  Jumped fantastically, especially giving a huge amount of weight to a decent rival.

think he has the speed for the arkle, travels so well in his races and as said before seems to do just enough ,his jumping is very good  so far and the arkle should be hard to swerve for connections ,but I would say that !

Has there been any further comments the from trainer as to whether its the Arkle or JLT ?  Ta

entered in Irish Arkle is only hint at this stage

Be taking on UDS,that will tell us something!!

layingistheway ,,,a few days ago gilgamboa was a biger price for the arkle than the jlt now it has flip flopped !

Destiny Calls, cant wait for him to confirm he is Irelands No 1 2M Novice Chaser.

Arkle Chelters victory........

Then take the price for the Champion Chase 2016.

Were it only so simple!

where next ?

Had looked a right prospect up to today until ap got a hold of him,had not seen a novice jump and attack his fences in along time on his two runs previous to this under mp walsh,had a very hard race.

Maybe he just lost because uds took him out of the comfort zone right away. On todays evidence i'd be thinking handicap more than arkle or jlt.

If he can sneak into the novice h/c chase he'll run in it. Otherwise he'll go JLT

Then again if that wasn't his running, id go arkle or jlt. If that's his form and style, it would be jlt at best. He didn't look like a 2 miler out there.

By the way i have a triple figure price for the arkle, just to prove i'm not a pocket talker. Plus my festival bets are crumbling.

No point renewing rivalry with Un De Sceaux when we know he'll probably get the JLT trip.

He's the only JP novice chaser of any worth that I can think of so I think that might mean open company rather than a handicap. Could be a Powers Gold Cup horse as well.

He's not a 2 miler, defo not one on better ground. It's been said he needs further by a few people before the start of this season and was very impressive over 2m3f in bottomless lto. He was going as fast as he could today and was staying on to nearly get 2nd at the end. Remember he was giving Clarcam 10lbs too, he's a good horse.

Very much a Powers Gold Cup horse, that race is 4th April so plenty of time after Cheltenham to run in both.

Made a bad mistake,hes comfortably 2nd otherwise.
Yep, a good horse and would have a fair chance in the JLT if its not too good ground.
Cannot beat UDS though,so certainly no point going Arkle.

Yep, agree with the many, this horse needs a intermediate trip, to lay up with the pace.

Why is he staying over 2 miles tomorrow? If The JLT is the plan would have thought a step up in trip would be an idea. Perhaps they're considering The Arkle after all. What do the McManus team have for The Arkle other than this one?

Two possibilities??

1)The timing of the race today simply fits into the prep for March?

2)They think the mistake lto was the reason he got beat so far by UDS,and maybe with a clear round they think he can be a threat in the Arkle?

I think he has a big chance in the JLT, but is a much deeper race than the Arkle - his run over 2.5m before the Irish Arkle was one of the novice performances of the season imo, giving Adriana Des Mottes so much weight - and I say that as an Arkle backer.

Outside of Un De Sceaux, I do think he is the best of the rest in the Arkle though; I'd back him to finish ahead of Vibrato Valtat (backed him to place).

It was a bad mistake he made in the Irish Arkle, and would have finished ahead of Clarcam without it, and remember he was giving Clarcam lumps of weight too.

I'd be made up if he ran in the Arkle because I'm on at a good ew price, but I would go for the JLT if I owned him, but looking at the prize money, he is well capable of getting that 32k, and if UDS does make a mistake, I'd have him as the one to take advantage.

Last year the prize money in the Arkle was
£85,425.00, £32,055.00, £16,050.00, £7,995.00, £4,020.00, £2,010.00

and the JLT was:
£68,340.00, £25,644.00, £12,840.00, £6,396.00, £3,216.00, £1,608.00

Well i am at a loss as to this one now. Should have hacked up there imo after reel steel went backwards. I have him in the Arkle and Any race with a bet in the jlt (I forgot i had backed him in the any race when i did jlt)

Perhaps he wants a track like Chelt and 24 miles? Not sure, what do you guys think? I wouldn't be sure he even turn up on that evidence?

Yeah - really disappointing run. Enda will have him out jumping 'ruby's double' and all those hedges I expect.

How anyone thought this boat would beat VV in the arkle is beyond me. He probably won't run at cheltenham now. Surprised he lost today as he was surely much classier than that.

Very disappointing display,didnt jump well either.May keep him back for other festivals, cause wont be winning at Cheltenham.

UDS FORM LET DOWN 1.7 ARKLE WIDE OPEN NOW

Powers Gold Cup might be more suitable than the JLT after today's effort, would give him more time. Looks like the hard race behind Un De Sceaux left its mark.

Blown out of fences for this season, only chance the horse could have at Cheltenham Festival 2015 would be back over hurdles off 139-rating.

on a serious note UDS gone from 1.65 to 1.8

thats why i don't put too much faith in the form of 3-4 runners races.. UDS got all his high ratings from those small fields .. when emailing timeform about this they assured me that his time backs up the performance so I hope they're right as UDS forms a good part of my antepost multiples.. besides there aren't any other dangers except Vibrato Valtat so here's hoping he jumps round safely..

How anyone thought this boat would beat VV in the arkle is beyond me

Its easy saying that after the race

...thats why i don't put too much faith in the form of 3-4 runners races.. UDS got all his high ratings from those small fields

and then

so I hope they're right as UDS forms a good part of my antepost multiples

must of put some faith in those 3-4 runner races you'd have thought.

I was talking about his 160+ Timeform ratings which he only achieved in small fields; even as hurdler whenever he competed in fields bigger than 4 he could only managed 160 or lower ratings. Handicappers can build a stronger picture of the form proportional with the number of runners thats why I enquired to see if the times are backing his 160+ performances. I wasn't doubting his overall class and potential which is why I included him in multiples at decent odds, I was only suspicious of those higher ratings.

The high-class hurdler looked destined for the top of the novice chasing ranks after winning his first two starts over fences, but was firmly put in his place by the brilliant Un De Sceaux in last month's Arkle at Leopardstown.

He was an odds-on favourite to get back on the winning trail in Sunday's Flyingbolt Novice Chase, but was disappointingly beaten by rank outsider Rawnaq.

Gilgamboa holds entries in the Racing Post Arkle Trophy and the JLT Novices' Chase at Prestbury Park, but trainer Enda Bolger is in favour of giving his charge a break.

He said: "He seems fine this morning. He had a bit of a cut behind, but that wasn't the reason he disappointed.

"He just ran very flat on the day. He'd seemed fine at home since Leopardstown, but Mark (Walsh) said he didn't jump or travel with the same fluency as he had before.

"I think he needs a bit of a break now, so that's the plan. I'd say it would be odds against for him to go there (Cheltenham).

"We'll give him a break and bring him back later in the spring. He's crying out for two and a half (miles) and I'm looking forward to next season with him. I feel sorry for the horse that he underperformed, but these things happen."



To be fair, i wonder if this horse could be in need of a breathing op?