Greatwood Gold Cup Tips & Odds

The history of the Greatwood Gold Cup

Still a relatively new race on the National Hunt calendar having only been introduced in 2004, but the history of the race is all about Paul Nicholls, who has a sensational record in the Newbury race.

While Nicholls biggest rival Nicky Henderson bagged the inaugural running of the race with Isio, it was Nicholls that has dominated the race since and bagged his first win in the race in 2006 with Cornish Sett, who dead-heated with Horus. The Ditcheat handler hasn't looked back and won a plethora of renewals of the Greatwood Gold Cup with Natal (2008), Big Fella Thanks (2010) and Sametegal (2016) just another trio of notable winners.

Named in honour of Greatwood, a charity for the welfare of retired racehorses, the Greatwood Gold Cup is sure to continue to blossom over the coming years, and is sure to be a key target for all the premier trainers.

Who is the most iconic winner of the Greatwood Gold Cup?

It may not be the most iconic winner of the race, but the most memorable renewal of the Greatwood Gold Cup was the 2006 running which saw the Paul Nicholls-trained Cornish Sett ridden by Ruby Walsh dead heat with Martin Pipe's Horus, who was the mount of Jamie Moore.

After a gruelling test of 2m 4f, the pair went across the line in unison and the judge was unable to split the pair and the Greatwood Gold Cup had its first ever dead heat.

Are there any trials for the Greatwood Gold Cup?

There's a host of middle-distance handicap chases taking place across the country during the season, so it's hard to pinpoint an actual trial race for the Greatwood Gold Cup, but Newbury and Ascot offer competitive handicap chase races during the season, so form at those two tracks could prove informative.