Gorgeous Tom
A standing start for a big handicap is rarely satisfactory, there are usually hard-luck stories, and that was the case again in the Coral Gold Cup at Newbury on Saturday. The biggest hard-luck story, of course, was The Doyen Chief, who effectively took no part in the race, but Pic Roc, Gorgeous Tom and Katate Dori were also badly inconvenienced at the start, and their bad luck was accentuated by the fact that they didn't go a great pace, that it was a race in which it was an advantage to race prominently. The finishing speed was over 108% of overall speed, and the first three home were all in the first five after they had gone seven furlongs, and they were first, second and third from over two miles out.
Panic Attack was an impressive winner, she raced prominently and she was still fastest of all through the final four furlongs, over a second and a half faster than the next fastest. She stayed well, and she could be very good indeed. She is nine, but this was just her seventh chase and she remains progressive. She could go higher still. After her, all three slow starters, Pic Roc, Gorgeous Tom and Katate Dori, are horses to note from the race but, of the three, it may be that Gorgeous Tom has the greatest potential upside. Well back in the field early on after missing the break from the standing start, Henry de Bromhead's horse made good ground for Darragh O'Keeffe at the top of the home straight, and he moved into fourth place on the run to the second last fence. That was the hottest part of the race, however, and his effort just flattened out from the second last. Even so, he kept on well enough to retain fourth place.
Gorgeous Tom was a high-class novice last season, he won a Grade 3 contest at Cork, and he finished fourth in the Drinmore Chase and the Brown Advisory Novices' Chase and the Grade 1 three-mile novices' chase at the Punchestown Festival. This was his first run in a handicap chase, it was the biggest field in which he had ever competed over fences by some way, and he coped with it well. He will be of interest now wherever he goes next. There could be a big staying handicap chase in him this season, probably on ground that is no softer than yielding or good to soft.
Newbury, 29th November 2025
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