Three way battle expected in the Coral Cup (A Handicap Hurdle)
A total of 28 runners will battle it out for victory in the Coral Cup (A Handicap Hurdle) Grade 3 at Cheltenham in England on Wednesday, March 14, 2012. The winner will bag a cash prize of £39,865.
There will be a close fight between Balgarry, Get Me Out Of Here and Poole Master, as the bookmakers have given them pretty decent odds for winning the event. The going will be good for the 2 mile 5 furlong race, which will start at 4:00 GMT.
David Pipe’s trainee, Balgarry, seems to have the best chance of winning the race, as he is in very good rhythm at the moment. He has just taken part in three hurdles until now, winning a couple of them.
The five-year-old gelding could have had a 100 percent winning record, but he was a touch nervous in his debut race. He still ran very well, finishing runner up by just a head distance. He was the least favourite to win that event, but stunned one and all
with his class.
Such a superb start to his career gave Balgarry an excellent momentum and he performed exceptionally well in his next two outings. He looks in a good position to complete a hat-trick of victories over hurdles.
The punters will be encouraged to place maximum bets on the five-year-old gelding, who will be partnered by Tom Scudamore. The veteran jockey has had an impressive career until now, winning 161 hurdles. However, his strike rate is not as good as he would
want it to be.
Get Me Out OF Here, trained by Jonjo O'Neill, has got plenty of experience over hurdles, as he has participated in 13 of them. However, his strike rate is not the best, as he has managed to win four of such events until now. He has also secured the same
number of runner up finishes.
The eight-year-old gelding got off to a flying start to his career, but his performance has dipped since his last victory in February, 2010. He will be ridden by one of the best jockeys, A. P. McCoy, who has earned 537 wins over hurdles.
On the other hand, Poole Master is also not far behind the top two favourites, as he is in excellent rhythm. He has won three hurdles out of four attempts and is likely to be strong at Cheltenham.
The rest of the runners might struggle to win today, but they are quite capable of causing an upset.
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