Greatwood Gold Cup Betting Tips, Offers and Odds 4th March 2017

Greatwood Gold Cup Tips, Odds and Betting Offers, Newbury, Saturday 4th March 2017

The Greatwood Gold Cup, as it has been known since 2010, is a two and a half mile steeplechase of Grade 3 quality. Paul Nicholls holds a hugely impressive in this race and many will be wondering if his dominance can continue even longer. The 54-year-old trainer has saddled the winner seven out of the last nine times and he has two entries among a field of 10 this time around.

Nicholls The Man to Beat

With Nicholls having such a fantastic record in this race, eight winners since the race was introduced in 2004, his two runners this time simply have to be mentioned. One is a bit of an outsider here, More Buck’s, who can be backed at 11/1 with BetVictor. He started the season very strongly in the lower classes, winning three of his first four starts but hasn’t enjoyed immediate success making the step up to Class 2 for the first time. It’s fairly uncommon to see winners of this racing with no graded chase experience whatsoever and the seven-year-old might find life too tough here and is best avoided.

Vibrato Valtat (7/1, Betfair) is the other from the Nicholls stable and he offers a lot more appeal with his wealth of Class 1 experience and proven jumping ability. He’s fallen just the once in his career, at Cheltenham, and should get over the obstacles at Newbury without too much issue. Often his problem seems to be that he’s simply facing classier opposition on the day but Saturday’s field doesn’t feature any names that should have him overly concerned. His official rating of 152 however means that he’s the top weight by nine pounds and this may be enough to ensure his winless streak continues to 11 races.

Time for a new trainer to win

With big doubts over the two Nicholls riders, back Dan Skelton for glory this time courtesy of Oldgrangewood who’s trading at 11/4 with 888sport. New customers to 888 can get triple the odds, so 33/4, or more than 8/1! The promising six-year-old comes into the race on the back of two victories and although he’s without graded experience, he looks more than capable of making the step up in class. It’s also his first distance start but strong finishes across two miles and three furlongs in his last two starts mean this is of no concern. He’s been slapped with an extra nine pounds for his last win so will need to improve once again here but he’s shown us enough so far to think he can do just that.

In the each way market it’s not hard to fancy Dresden given that he was just two and a quarter lengths behind Oldgrandwood when the pair met in February. Although he never really threatened to take the win, he does run one pound light than Saturday’s race favourite as opposed to seven pounds heavier than when at Wetherby. Two and a half miles looks like the ideal trip for him at the moment and with two strong efforts at and around this distance recently, he could well be Saturday’s surprise package at 12/1 with Betfred.