Right Royal Gold rush

0 Comments | Sunday Mirror, Mar 8, 2009 | by GARY NUTTING

BARBERS SHOP can crown the best four days' racing in the world by winning the Gold Cup and giving the Queen her biggest success over jumps.

The Grand National, Derby, Royal Ascot, ArcandBreeders' Cup are superb meetings in their own right but for sheer drama, excitement and emotionnothingcanmatchthe Cheltenham Festival.

Whenthe tapes go up for the first race on Tuesday the famousroar- ledbythousands of Irish visitors on their annual invasion of the Cotswolds - will herald the start of friendly hostilities between the best horses, jockeys and trainers in Europe.

The Queen (right) is no stranger to success as an owner/breeder but all her high-profile wins have been on the Flat and it was only after the death of her mother, the "patron saint" of jump racing, that she became seriously involved in National Hunt.

Shehad her first Festival runners last year - Barbers Shop finished second in the Jewson Novices' Handicap Chase and GoldAwardninth in theChampion Bumper - and on Friday she will attend the great meeting for only the second time in half a century.

As Edward Gillespie, Cheltenham's managing director, wryly observed: "The Queen attended Gold Cup day in 2003, which was the first time she had visited in about 50 years.

Before that, the Queen Mother came here every year for around 50 years."

Theshowpiece race also promises a landmark victory for Nicky Henderson, a hugely popular figure in the game and currently third in the Festival's all-time trainers' list with 31 winners. Only Fulke Walwyn (40) and Martin Pipe (34) have trained more but Henderson, 58, is expected to surpass both before he retires.

The Lambourn maestro's horses have been in irresistible form all season and with the JP McManusowned Binocular a red-hot favourite for the opening-day feature, Henderson is on course to become the first trainer since Kim Bailey in 1995 to do the Champion Hurdle- Gold Cup double in the same year.

Bookmakers may not share that view as 2007 winner Kauto Star is as low as 6-4 to win back the crown he lost to stable-mate Denman 12 months ago.

But no horse has ever regained steeplechasing's blue riband and the stats are also against Neptune Collonges, second favourite and the other member of Paul Nicholls's famous 1-2-3 last year.

That leaves the way open for one of the up-and-coming brigade to emerge triumphant and with secondseason chasers boasting a superb record in the race, Barbers Shop hasthe right credentials to defy his current 16-1 odds.

Heavy ground prevented the 7yo running in one of the key trials recently but he won the Sandownrace that Looks Like Troublelanded en route to Gold Cup glory in 2000 and Henderson is confident he's got him at concert pitch.

"He's always been a hugely promising horse but the difference this season is that he's grown up mentally," said the trainer.

"Sandown made a man of him and the step up to 3m really suited him. They go a stride ortwoslower compared to the hot 2m5f handicaps he'd been running in and he loved every minute of it. He got into a great rhythm and his confidence soared.

"He's bred to stay the extra quarter-mile at Cheltenham and I expect him to improve for it. He hasn't raced for three months but I didn't want to flatten him on bad ground because he's much better when fresh.

"He worked tremendously well with Mad Max, who is my best novice hurdler and certainly no slouch, at Newbury racecourse last Sunday and I couldn't be happier with the wayhis preparation has gone.

"He's very much on an upwardcurve whereas the big guns, for all their talent, may not be getting any better."

SELECTIONS:

1.30 Zaynar; 2.05 Noble Alan; 2.40 Cape Tribulation; 3.20 Barbers Shop.

LATEST ODDS

CHAMPION HURDLE

(3.20 Tuesday)

5-4 Binocular, 10 Celestial Halo, 12 Osana, 14 Crack Away Jack, 16 Katchit, 20 Ashkazar, 20 Sizing Europe, 20 Sublimity, 20 Whiteoak, 25 Sentry Duty, 25 Punjabi, 33 bar

CHAMPION CHASE

(3.20 Wednesday)

1-3 Master Minded, 10 Big Zeb, 14 Petit Robin, 16 Tidal Bay, 16 Well Chief, 16 Twist Magic, 20 Briareus, 66 bar

RYANAIR CHASE

(2.40 Thursday)

11-10 Voy Por Ustedes, 6 Tidal Bay, 6 Imperial Commander, 6 Our Vic, 16 Schindlers Hunt, 16 Gwanako, 20 Monet's Garden, 25 L'Antartique, 33 Scotsirish, 40 bar

LADBROKES WORLD HURDLE

(3.20 Thursday)

11-10 Kasbah Bliss, 4 Punchestowns, 6 Big Buck's, 12 Fair Along, 25 Blazing Bailey, 25 Mobaasher, 25 Mighty Man, 33 Powerstation, 33 Tazbar, 40 bar

TRIUMPH HURDLE

(1.30 Friday)

5 Zaynar, 5 Walkon, 5 Master Of Arts, 6 Torphichen, 7 Starluck, 10 Ebadiyan, 10 Mr Thriller, 14 Jumbo Rio, 16 Trenchant, 16 Lethal Weapon, 20 bar

CHELTENHAM GOLD CUP

(3.20 Friday)

7/4 Kauto Star, 6 Neptune Collonges, 7 Denman, 10 Madison Du Berlais, 12 Exotic Dancer, 14 Barbers Shop, 16 Albertas Run, 33 bar

(Odds courtesy of Ladbrokes)

FESTIVAL FACTFILE

More than 200,000 spectators attend the four days of the Festival. The gate receipts will total about EUR7million.

Bookies expect up to EUR600m will be staked on the 26 races at the Festival.

Prize money at this year's Festival is a record of EUR3.56m, an average of EUR136,923 per race.