'The Coral Gold Cup's his main target but part of me strongly considered the Betfair' - who caught the eye on Newbury's gallops morning?

The popular Coral Gold Cup gallops morning took centre stage at Newbury on Tuesday, with some of Britain's leading trainers in attendance as well as more than 30 horses on the track. Here are three things we learned . . .

Murphy rates Resplendent Grey 'a massive improver'

Olly Murphy admitted that he strongly considered the Grade 1 Betfair Chase at Haydock on Saturday for Resplendent Grey, who worked at Newbury yesterday, before sticking to plan a of the Coral Gold Cup here next weekend. 

The seven-year-old, who is 6-1 joint-favourite with Sky Bet for the Newbury feature on Saturday week, ran out a smart winner of the Listed Colin Parker Memorial Chase at Carlisle.

• Watch: interview with Olly Murphy

Murphy said: "He surprised me at Carlisle. He was only 85 per cent ready and I kind of admitted defeat before I even set foot on the racecourse.

"He could be a Grand National type. The Coral Gold Cup is his main target this side of Christmas, but there was a part of me that strongly considered the Betfair Chase. I thought about clicking that confirmation button on Monday."

His decision to bypass Haydock was partly due to the fact stable jockey Sean Bowen is expected to continue his association with Haiti Couleurs this weekend.

"I thought if he'd win a Betfair, he'd win a Coral Gold Cup off his mark," said Murphy. "I'm not trying to work things around Sean, but if Haiti Couleurs wasn't around I'd probably have clicked that button. It'll be a small field and I think he's a massive improver."

Inch House has 'more than an outside chance' for Nicholls

Paul Nicholls has won the Coral Gold Cup four times and at Newbury yesterday said he has an "outside chance" of becoming the first trainer since Nicky Henderson to register back-to-back victories in the race. 

Kandoo Kid: (Harry Cobden) won last year's Coral Gold Cup Credit: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos)

Henderson trained Bobs Worth and Triolo D'Alene to success in 2012 and 2013, and 14-time champion trainer Nicholls is set to rely on Inch House this year following Kandoo Kid's success 12 months ago for the same owner, Michael Geoghegan.

The eight-year-old warmed up for this race by finishing sixth at Cheltenham last month and Nicholls said: "He's full of enthusiasm and we think he's got more than an outside chance.

"He was prepared for today, and it's what we needed, but it's a hard race to win. He hasn't got the class of Kandoo Kid, but he's got no weight and it's a handicap. He's tough, he stays and he likes going left-handed.

"Last season was a write-off. He had a bad fall at Ayr and never got over it. I couldn't train him, so we left him off and he's come back this season a completely different animal."

Derham preparing strong team for local track

Harry Derham has made a solid start to the season and is not prepared to rest on his laurels as he primes a rock-solid team for Newbury's biggest jumps fixture of the season.

Derham, who is based a short drive from the track in Boxford, has a 30 per cent strike-rate this term and fired in Grade 2 winner One Horse Town at Cheltenham last week.

• Watch: interview with Harry Derham

His attention is slowly turning to the Coral Gold Cup meeting, where he could send a big squad in the hope of picking up more valuable prize-money. Viyanni, a dual winner for the yard, will run in the Gerry Feilden (Saturday), while £320,000 purchase Clondaw Park could be pitched into the Listed mares' novice hurdle (Saturday).

On Clondaw Park, he said: "I don't think she's useless if I'm running her there. She's a very nice horse. It wouldn't bother me if she got beat. Getting beat first time out isn't the worst thing. She goes very well and I'm an enormous fan from what I've seen."

Just Ennemi, Kiwi Rush, Mossy Fen Road and Dargiannini could also feature across the weekend.

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