Santini can put down Gold Cup marker on Cheltenham Trials Day

It’s Cheltenham Festival Trials day on Saturday and the fixture has produced 16 winners at the jumps meeting that matters most over the last five years. The name of the fixture could be a misnomer because many of the leading contenders in the championship races are going straight to the Festival. However, Santini is running in the Cotswold Chase this weekend en route to a potential run in the Cheltenham Gold Cup, while Paisley Park could meet If the Cap Fits in the Cleeve Hurdle.

The Cotswold Chase is a dress rehearsal for the Gold Cup. It is Grade 2 chase run over three miles and one and a half furlongs on the New Course and there are 21 fences. The Gold Cup is half a furlong longer and there are 22 fences. Give or take, however, the Cotswold Chase will replicate the conditions of the Gold Cup. The winners in 2000 and 2001 also won the Gold Cup. Since 2011 three winners have also won the Grand National at Aintree.

The winning-most age of the Cotswold Chase this century is nine while six winners over this spell were aged 10 or 11. Many Clouds is the only multiple winner since 2000 (2015 and 2017). The leading trainer over the last 20 years is Paul Nicholls with four wins. In this period the jockey with the best record is the retired AP McCoy with three wins. The only other multiple winning jockey this century is Leighton Aspell, who rode Many Clouds when that horse won the race in two seasons.

Here is a breakdown of the number of Festival winners that had won on Cheltenham Trials Day in January:

• 2015 – three
• 2016 – two
• 2017 – five
• 2018 – two
• 2019 – four

Siruh du Lac, Paisley Park and Frodon were winners at Cheltenham 12 months ago and went on to score at the Festival. The tally was five in 2017, but three races had been rescheduled and are not usually features of Trials Day. However, there have been at least two Festival winners prevailing in races at Saturday’s fixture since 2015. Santini can put down a marker for his Gold Cup prospects by producing an impressive performance in the Cotswold Chase.

With the Gold Cup in mind, Santini’s run in the Cotswold Chase will be informative. The horse won his race at Sandown last time out without producing an eye-catching performance. He is a genuine talent over fences and a good display in the Cotswold Chase could bring the horse into calculations for the Gold Cup. Santini handles the track, as he was second in the RSA Chase last season. The horse would be a player in the Gold Cup after racing on Saturday.

The Cleeve Hurdle is a Grade 2 race over the best part of three miles around the New Course and is a trial for the Stayers’ Hurdle in March. Since 2008 five winners have won both races, including Paisley Park, which completed the double last season. Tom Scudamore is the only active jockey to have won more than one Cleeve Hurdle over the last 10 years (2011 and 2016). The leading trainer since 2000 still operating is Paul Nicholls, who trained the winners in 2012 and 2015.

Paisley Park can win another Cleeve Hurdle before defending his stayers’ hurdle crown at the Festival. However, should If The Cap Fits run, the race for the favourite would not be plain sailing. Summerville Boy can be backed at +1000 with Bovada and could be the fly in the ointment. The winner of the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle in 2018 could run in the Champion Hurdle or Stayers’ Hurdle. Saturday’s run over almost three miles will reveal a great deal, but beating Paisley Park looks beyond Summerville Boy. Santini can win the Costswold Chase and then all roads lead to the Gold Cup.