I’ll be cheering for Kauto Star to complete an historic four timer in the King George tomorrow, but I’m going to put up Imperial Commander for the Gold Cup so will be looking for a good run from him too.
Seemingly a two horse race between Kauto Star and Denman, there are not many other genuine contenders for the Gold Cup and the race lacks strength in depth. The selections on this blog are all about value and the 12/1 with totepsport about Imperial Commander is great value. In Imperial Commander we have an improving young classy chaser who loves Cheltenham.
The most recent evidence we have on the relative merits of Kauto Star is the Betfair Chase at Haydock where Imperial Commander proved a lot of doubters wrong by staying the 3 mile trip and coming within a whisker of beating Kauto Star. Kauto Star is 9/4 for the Gold Cup and Imperial Commander is 12/1. So the bookies are saying that Kauto Star has a five times greater chance of winning the big race? Mmmm. The Haydock race showed an was improved performance from eight year old Imperial Commander and at this optimum age for a chaser he is likely to improve again.
Kauto Star and Denman will both be ten years old when March comes around. The last ten year old winner was in 1998, Cool Dawn.
Denman’s performance in the Hennessy Gold Cup was just awesome and if in good health he will also be a factor but he is the same price as Kauto.
Imperial Commander loves Cheltenham having won five times including victories in the the Ryanair at Festival 2009 and the Paddy Power Gold Cup in 2008.
It will be fascinating to see how he gets on in the King George tomorrow. His record would suggest he doesn’t operate well on right handed tracks (although he’s only tried twice) although his past performances also suggested he wouldn’t stay three miles. If he can finish close to Kauto Star then his odds for the Gold Cup will fall and should he finish in front of him they will collapse. He is an excellent each way alternative to the big two at the prices.
So at a standout 12/1 with totesport now is a great time to back the Commander.
Recommended bet: 1 point ew Imperial Commander 12/1 – totesport
