The Gold Cup is always one of the better races at the Royal Ascot Carnival and given the nature of the contest, it also tends to produce a couple of genuine Melbourne Cup hopefuls.
Stradivarius has been considered amongst the world’s best horses for several seasons now, even when Winx was still going around, and there’s no surprises to see him open our odds-on favourite in Gold Cup betting.
You can find Stradivarius and four other quality stayers in my 2020 Gold Cup tips below.
Suggested Bets
- Boxed Trifecta of the selections below
There are some really good horses in the Gold Cup field, but Stradivarius is virtually impossible to tip against, he is that good.
The six-year-old son of Sea The Stars has made twenty appearances at the races throughout his career, winning thirteen times and placing on a further five occasions.
He’s won the last two editions of this race, beating home some of the world’s best in the process and while he did miss a place for only the second time in his career when resuming this time, he’ll take good improvement for the effort.
Throw in Frankie Dettori and I really can’t find a reason why he won’t be in the finish.
2018 Melbourne Cup winner Cross Counter will take his place in the Gold Cup field and if betting is to be believed, poses the biggest threat to Stradivarius.
Clearly, he is up to big performances in the world’s best staying races and away from his triumph in the Race That Stops a Nation, he has recorded six wins a further three minors from only thirteen starts.
He has an exceptional fresh record and hasn’t been seen at the races since finishing eighth in last year’s Melbourne Cup; something else that will play into his strengths on Thursday night.
Like I said in yesterday’s Prince Of Wales’s Stakes tips, there are far worse betting plays than just following in anything saddled by Charlie Appleby, and that couldn’t be more true of a horse like Cross Counter.
Is there a tougher horse in the world than Prince Of Arran? I don’t think so.
This horse is the equivalent of Russell Crowe, Keith Urban and Pavlova. He isn’t really Australian, but boy are we claiming him, especially in a year that no Aussie horses have been able to make the pilgrimage.
His Melbourne Cup heroics these last few years have launched him into similar cult status to the great Red Cadeaux and outside of his trips to Australia, he’s been an outstanding horse for Charlie Fellows – returning huge performances and results all over the globe.
He’s set to go around in the Gold Cup at odds of around $20 and I really don’t have any doubt that he’s up to fighting out the finish.
Appleby will actually saddle two runners in the Gold Cup and Moonlight Spirit looms as a live each-way chance as well.
The four-year-old son of Dubawi hasn’t run a bad race since debuting and has enjoyed a meteoric rise to prominence winning a couple of nice races including the Group 3 Prix de Lutece in September.
He’s untested at the trip and the grade and while I think he might find a couple of these rivals just a little too good at this point of his career, he does look up to running a bold race.