The race has a long and rich history and the roll of honour is littered with some of the greats of the chasing game, from Golden Miller who won the race on five consecutive occasions (1932-36), Bregawn leading home a 1-2-3-4-5 for trainer Michael Dickenson in 1983, the mare Dawn Run completing the Champion Hurdle/Gold Cup double in 1986, Desert Orchid’s evocative win in the mud in 1989 and then the Best Mate hat-trick (2002-2004) and of course most recently the head to heads between stable mates Kauto Star and Denman which have taken racing off the back pages and onto the front pages.

If none of those excite you then the Cheltenham Festival has clearly passed you by.

As befits the leading steeplechase of the year it is not easily won but there are some patterns and traits that can help us in our search for the winner. First of all the ideal age range is between seven and nine, the last ten year old to be victorious was Cool Dawn back in 1998 and once these chasers slip in double figures in the age stakes the edge and pace needed tends to slip away from them.

Fortunately from a punters point of view shocks in the race of late have been few and far between and all of the last ten winners of the race have started in the first three in the betting, which contrasts greatly with the previous decade. The 90s served up no less than six 16/1 plus winners, including the shock winner Norton’s Coin who was 100/1 in the Cheltenham racing betting.

One good reason to discount a horse from being your selection is one that has yet to win in the same season – winning form prior to the Gold Cup is a must and those looking to place Cheltenham 2011 bets should remember this.

First run as a flat race in 1819 the Cheltenham Gold Cup will once again provide one of the highlights of the Festival as the best chasers in the land go head-to-head.

Last year saw him win the Dr. P.J. Moriarty Novice Chase in Leopardstown in February which preceded his impressive RSA Chase victory at Cheltenham the following month. In winning the RSA he was no less impressive than Denman had been in the same race two years previously, so it looks like things are looking promising for Cooldine and his team in this year’s Cheltenham Festival!

There was big disappointment for Cooldine’s return race at the end of December 2009, the Lexus Chase, where Ruby Walsh chose to ride him over What A Friend, showing the faith that there is in his abilities. Unfortunately for all concerned, he was pulled up, but there was a big change in the bay gelding for the Hennessy Gold Cup which has reignited not just his trainer Willie Mullin’s hope in him, but also the punters and the bookmakers, who have given him odds as low as 10/1 for the Cheltenham Gold Cup, and it has been speculated that his form is likely to be even better than it was in February by the time of the Cheltenham Festival in mid-March.

Cooldine is currently third favourite for the Cheltenham Gold Cup on Friday 19th March with ante-post odds of 12/1 with Paddy Power Bookmakers.

Whether he will be a realistic threat to the Nicholl’s stable clan is yet to be seen, but he is definitely considered a worthy opponent.

He is last year’s Ryanair Chase winner, with good odds with Paddy Power Bookmakers, William Hill and Ladbrokes to win the gold cup and completed two miles on the Kempton turf course under jockey Paddy Brennan, in a spin alongside an unnamed younger horse ridden by trainer Nigel Twiston-Davies’s assistant Carl Llewellyn.

According to Racing Post, Brennan said:”He just really enjoyed himself. He was very keen and fresh, which we were hoping for. I couldn’t be any more happy with him. We just did two miles in a swinging canter. We didn’t really build it up much from that. It was case of getting him out of the yard. He is having a nice blow and he’s had a lovely time.”

Twiston-Davies said: “He was just having a canter, that’s all. It’s his last piece of racecourse work before Cheltenham and it will put him just right.”

Can Imperial Commander cause a real upset in the Cheltenham Gold Cup? Anything is possible on the day and despite the star power of Denman and Kauto Star they’re not invincible so maybe Paddy Brennan, who is really on form at the moment, and Nigel Twiston-Davies will be celebrating before Paul Nicholls!

Alan King’s stable jockey has a tremendous festival record and arguably rides the undulating Prestbury Park circuit as well as anyone in the jump jockeys weighing room. Following many good years with the late David Nicholson, Thornton has struck up an excellent partnership with King and, as usual, the yard has a number of serious contenders for honours. Thornton is also likely to attract significant quality outside rides to boost his chances of being in the hunt for the jockeys’ title.

Whilst there is no doubt that Ruby Walsh deserves to be hot favourite with plum rides on such as Kauto Star, Master Minded and Big Bucks, Thornton can look forwarded to riding Triumph Hurdle favourite Mille Chief, live Champion Hurdle contender Medermit, Bensalem in the RSA Chase, Voy Por Ustedes in the Ryanair Chase, Karabak in the World Hurdle, Chamirey or The Betchworth Kid in the Albert Bartlett, Sir Harry Ormesher in the Coral Cup, and the list goes on.

Alan King is a trainer who specifically prepares his string to peak in March and April and there is every reason to believe that other horses from the King yard will appear amongst Cheltenham Odds in the next few weeks and jump to prominence in the ante-post lists. Outside yards such as Jonjo O’Neil, Henrietta Knight, Irish trainer Jimmy Lambe and Eddie Harty have also called upon ‘Choc’s services in the past, so the prospects look good for him getting into the fight with Walsh, Barry Geraghty, and Tony McCoy.

Like all jumps jockeys at this time of the year, Robert Thornton will be keen to avoid injury in a season that has already included two periods on the sidelines.

It’s been announced that Ruby Walsh will be riding Kauto Star and that Tony McCoy will be taking the reins on Denman for the first time in his illustrious career. Despite a downturn in form recently, Paul Nicholls has decided that it will McCoy, and not Sam Thomas, who is best suited to saddle up on the day but before he does he’s going to get a run out beforehand.

Denman is scheduled to run in the The Aon Steeple Chase at Newbury next Saturday, February 13th 2010 at 2.35pm. The race is a Class 1, Grade 2 run over three miles and despite the fact that the bookies don’t appear to be running ante-post odds on the race just yet, I have no doubt that Denman will be the odds on favourite on the day.

This will also be a great opportunity for McCoy to prove his worth and justify Paul Nicholls decision to give him the ride as many pundits across the forums believe that he should have stayed loyal to Sam Thomas but Nicholls is an astoundingly good trainer and decisions like this are not made lightly.

Newbury on February 13th will prove him right or wrong so watch this space…