A quick glance at this Thursday’s Monmore opens are all the evidence you need that the Monmore Gold Cup Festival is just around the corner.
The likes of Maum Legend, California, Making Paper and Coolavanny Rebel, to name but four, will be aiming for a place among the 36 starters for what is one of the most lucrative £10K events in the calendar – the other finalists collect £7K between them.
The 630m course might be 50 metres short of Billys Bullet’s optimum, but he would still be a player in the Stayers Classic. The event, which carries a £7,500 first prize is often the first easy step into staying races and there will be many eyes on young Droopys Missouri who is making his six-bend debut following a very respectable 28.24 trial over the standard. He will share a van up the M6 with recent Grand Prix runner-up Mustang Golden.
Both events will be supported by the KAI Beautiful Boy Trafalgar Cup for which Droopys Trapeze (a September whelp) would qualify, if connections decided to swerve the Gold Cup.
All three events conclude on Thursday August 18 – where much to the irritation of the hosts – the SKY cameras will not present, though the meeting presents an absolute coup for the betting shops and RPGTV who will broadcast the programme live.
