Paul Nicholls expects a solid run from Silviniaco Conti at Cheltenham
Paul Nicholls is quite confident that his challenger, Silviniaco Conti, will be able to make a strong impression in the Gold Cup at Cheltenham in England on Friday, March 15, 2013.
The French runner has faced a lot of criticism for not being able to succeed at this venue in the past, but he is in spectacular form at the moment and will definitely be a force to reckon with. He has been winning races with consistency and there will be
a lot of pressure on his rivals in the upcoming events.
According to Nicholls, “I keep reading that he can't win at Cheltenham because he hasn't won at Cheltenham but we haven't avoided Cheltenham. He ran in the International Hurdle and for a three-mile horse against two-milers ran incredibly well. He has been
around loads of different tracks and all sorts of ground.”
Commenting on the chances of some other horses in the Gold Cup, he said, “My view is that the three second-season chasers Bobs Worth, Sir Des Champs and Conti might be the three, although you can never rule out Long Run. He would be suited by a real fast
end-to-end gallop where he can sit in third or fourth, use his jumping and then stay on strongly.”
Silviniaco Conti has done a fabulous job for his team over the years and there have been just a couple of occasions, when he failed to deliver a top three result. Despite that, he is definitely amongst some of the very best runners at the moment and he will
definitely not be an easy nut to crack.
Overall, the seven-year-old runner has appeared in 15 races for his team, winning 10 of them whereas finished as a runner up once. In addition to his victories, he had secured the third spot on a couple of times too. This clearly shows what he is capable
of achieving and it will not be the right thing to rule him out of contention at Cheltenham.
His current form is really good at the moment, as he has managed to succeed in his previous four outings. He will be aiming at stretching the winning streak further.
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