Good Boy Bobby

Good Boy Bobby ran better than the bare form of the run suggests in finishing fourth in the Caspian Caviar Gold Cup. Slowly away, he made a mistake at the first fence, and he was second last of the 17 runners over the second, which left him on the back foot from very early in the race. It was the first time that he had faced more than six rivals over fences, so the big field might have been a bit of a shock to him early on, but he settled into a nice rhythm thereafter.

He was a little keen up over the two fences in front of the stands first time, but he got himself into a nice position down the back straight, and he travelled well. The leaders got away on the front end a little as they raced to the top of the hill, though, and he made a mistake at the sixth last and was hampered a little at the fifth last, with the result that he was no better than 12th as they started to run down the hill. He still travelled well down the hill though, and he stayed on well from the third last fence. Still only eighth rounding the home turn, about 12 lengths behind the leaders, he stayed on well up the hill for Daryl Jacob to get up for fourth place, just failing to catch Benetar for third.

It was a good run by Nigel Twiston-Davies’ horse. The mistake at the first fence left him playing catch-up for most of the race. It may be that he is better in smaller fields at this trip, but he would be worth a try over further now. He stays two and a half miles on soft ground well and, out of a full-sister to top staying hurdler Voler La Vedette and a half-sister to Bet365 Gold Cup winner Hennessy, there is every chance that he will get three miles. He could even improve for the step up to that type of distance. The handicapper dropped him by 2lb for this run to a mark of 144, and that mark could under-estimate his ability. He is only seven and this was just his seventh chase, so he still has the potential to improve.

Cheltenham, 12^th December 2020