Golden Silver

6th-Apr-2010

It looks like the bookmakers have under-estimated another top weight in another two-mile handicap chase this afternoon in this in Golden Silver. Willie Mullins’s horse is top class over two miles on soft ground, as he proved when he won the Irish Arkle last year and when he won the Hilly Way Chase and the Dial-A-Bet Chase this year.

He didn’t jump well for Ruby when he got beaten by Big Zeb in the Tied Cottage Chase at Punchestown in February, but that run was a lot better than many people thought at the time, given Big Zeb’s subsequent exploits, and it wasn’t the real Golden Silver anyway, he jumped deliberately and violently to his left on occasion, something may have been ailing him, I had never seen him do that before.

Ruby has chosen to ride Jayo this afternoon instead, but I wouldn’t worry too much about that, it can’t have been an easy choice for him, Paul Townend is a superb rider, he rides a lot of the Violet O’Leary horses, he has a lot of luck with them, and he seems to get on really well with Golden Silver. Townend has ridden him to all four of his victories since he arrived in Ireland.

It isn’t going to be easy, giving weight away to all of his rivals, but he is a class above almost all of them. Jayo would be a danger getting 16lb, but he hasn’t built on the promise that he showed in the early part of last season, he is a two-and-a-half-mile horse for me and he is short enough at 11/4. Perce Rock is a danger, he won this race last year, he is only 4lb higher today and Tommy Stack’s flat horses are in tremendous form, but this is a much hotter race than last year’s was, and best odds of 11/2 about him are just about fair. You have to forgive Golden Silver his run in the Champion Chase, but you can easily do that, the ground was too fast for him and Cheltenham wouldn’t be his track anyway. Best odds of 7/1 about him this morning are too big, even with the Rule 4 that will be implemented, with Psycho almost certain to be withdrawn.

GOLDEN SILVER WON (ADV 7/1, R4 11/2, SP 9/2)

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