Vautour - why he should run in the Gold Cup

go to the ante post forum Cuthbert there is a vautour gold cup thread ,may be of interest!

You conveniently ignore the fact that Cue Card jumped poorly as well, as did Don Cossack.
All three would hope for better rounds at Cheltenham.

I am not convinced that Djakadam would win the Gold Cup.
He is a good horse, but there are a lot of other good horses in the race.
Just watched the King George again, add those lengths back in, ride him with more restraint, and he may have been a very impressive winner.

Sorry cuthbert, but I think its crazy to look back at a race and then decide to 'add lengths' for better jumping. If only it was that easy.

and if don cossack had stood up he would have won by 3l and vautour would be running in the ryanair,all ifs and maybe's

There was one fence (I think it was the 3rd last) that he absolutely winged and didn't jump right at, and took about 2 lengths out of Cue Card. I'm sure I have read that Walsh has blamed himself for the defeat because he kicked too early but if you can't stay 3 miles on a flat track like Kempton what are the chance of staying an extra 2 and a bit furlongs with an uphill finish at Cheltenham? You could argue that the best horse doesn't always win the gold cup, take Bob's Worth's win in it, Sir Des Champs was definitely travelling best coming down the hill and not only did Bob's come off the bridle first, he was also impeded by a falling Silviniaco Conti 3 out when he was 8 lengths behind and he still won by 7 because he stayed better.

I know Cue Card has had a breathing op this year but beating Silviniaco Conti, Dynaste and Ballynagour once or twice is hardly evidence that he does now stay further than 3 miles and with the non staying Al Ferof finishing 3rd yet again in the King George that says to me that while the form may be strong the evidence of horses staying is not.

it's a trait that vautour had that the others in the race didn't have.
At Cheltenham that disability is not there, so it's not jumping errors, and it should be considered.
It's a handicap that he will not have at Cheltenham.

be honest,two out you were telling anyone the new arkle has arrived,at the finish your first thought was he didnt stay,you then jumped on the r-h jumping bandwagon which admittiedly he did go slightly right at a few fences but that has now become every fence,he could still win the gold cup but on watching that race the odds are he wont stay and i still wouldnt be shocked to see him run in the ryanair

Cue Card is also miles better at Cheltenham than Kempton so I wouldn't be hanging onto that if I had a Vautour voucher

just watched the race again, there were 4 fences out of the 18 that Vautour did not jump to the left. (Cue Card was carried left by vautour over three of those fences). Some of vautours left jumps were more pronounced that others, suspect that I may have overstated the 9 lengths lost, but after that second viewing would estimate that 5 lenghts would be reasonably accurate.

I must have missed the 'Straw Clutching Stakes' last time I looked at the Cheltenham Festival card.

Vautour must run in the Gold Cup otherwise it will be a 'walkover' for the two Dons!