Britain’s big Gold Cup hope returns on Thursday and he’s running over hurdles

It probably says a lot about Ireland’s dominance at Cheltenham that the shortest price British-trained Gold Cup horse is 25/1. The horse in question did manage to win at Cheltenham in March and claimed another major prize when taking the Irish Grand National a month later. He’s set to make his first start of the season at Newbury on Thursday and it’s going to be over hurdles. Take a look at our free tips page for daily content across British and Irish racing.

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2.50 Newbury

Haiti Couleurs represents the Rebecca Curtis yard and he had a truly exceptional season as novice last season. The long term plan now is to go for the Gold Cup and Grand National double and the road starts here over hurdles. He won two of his six starts over hurdles and looks well handicapped in this sphere.

This thorough stayer also possesses a significant amount of class so it’s no surprise that he outstayed them all to win the National Hunt Challenge Cup at Cheltenham. Ben Jones made his move at the third-last and kicked clear to score by just short of five lengths.

An audacious bid for the Irish Grand National and it proved to be anything but speculative. The eight-year-old jumped very well under Sean Bowen and went on to win comfortably. Idling somewhat in the closing stages, he looked lonely rather than tired and had plenty in hand.

Curtis’ gelding is rated 7lb lower over hurdles and he’ll be expected to run a big race. A competitive field has been declared but every other Gold Cup candidate would be winning this.

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