Mirrors worth second glance for Gold at 25-1

AINTREE’S Old Roan Chase was a cracker and Wetherby’s Charlie Hall Chase was not far behind but, for me, the jumps season really starts to click into top gear with the running of the Paddy Power Gold Cup at Cheltenham.

The latest renewal of this top-class handicap chase on Saturday week has attracted a huge entry, so finding the value in the ante-post market is as much about knowing trainers’ intentions as the form of the horses.

Our starting point in any big race these days has to be the Paul Nicholls stable simply because of the firepower the champion trainer can boast.

Nicholls, who would have won this contest last year had Granit Jack not fallen with fatal consequences at the second-last fence, has five entries this time and has gone on record as saying that Silverburn is his number-one hope.

Nicholls reckons the gelding’s handicap mark of 143 is on the generous side and you have to respect his opinion, given his amazing success and domination of the sport in the last few seasons.

Silverburn can be backed at 9-2 with VC Bet, but I am going to oppose him as he has been disappointing at Cheltenham on both occasions he has raced there and all his best form seems to be on flatter tracks.

If Nicholls is the man to fear in these races, then Nicky Henderson is not far behind and, with his stable in flying form, his four entries bear close inspection.

The Lambourn trainer has yet to reveal his representatives for the race, but the recent money for Barbers Shop suggests the gelding could be the stable number one.

He has been cut to a best-priced 8-1, which is fair enough given his Cheltenham Festival second to Finger Onthe Pulse and belief that he is expected to improve during his second season over fences.

Barbers Shop’s stable companion Jack The Giant (14-1) is of obvious interest, but he has not raced since injuring a knee at Leicester in January and a combination of rustiness and a hefty weight could prove his undoing if he is given the green light to run.

David Pipe won the 2007 Boylesports Gold Cup – a similar contest to this – with Tamarinbleu, so his six entries bear scrutiny.

Most are young, unexposed types, although the nine-year-old Vodka Bleu has plenty of miles on the clock and was a well-backed favourite when second to handicap snip Exotic Dancer two years ago.

Vodka Bleu has more bad days than good ones, but can go well fresh and is no forlorn hope at 25-1.

Third to Exotic Dancer in that 2006 race was New Alco, trained like last year’s winner, L’Antartique, by Ferdy Murphy.

Murphy clearly targets this race with some of his better young handicappers and, although the stable has made a slow start to the season, I expect his representative, Three Mirrors, to be tuned to the minute for this contest.

This eight-year-old’s two runs at the end of last season, when second at Aintree and a winner at Ayr, showed he was still improving and his defeat of Dear Villez at the latter track looks even better following that horse’s victory in the recent Munster National.

Three Mirrors ran in last year’s Paddy Power, but a blunder four fences from home ended his hopes.

I am prepared to give him another chance, each-way, at the 25-1 available with bet365, Skybet and VC Bet, as most of the more fashionable entries have already been squeezed of value and the likes of Ashley Brook (a winner of a good race at Exeter on Tuesday), Imperial Commander, Ouzbeck and Maljimar make little appeal at their respective odds.