Cream keeps rising to the top in big handicap chases
Class is permanent, form is temporary. This hall-of-famer of a punting maxim was underlined at Cheltenham last Saturday with Taquin Du Seuil – the winner of the Grade 1 JLT Novices’ Chase at the 2014 festival – returning to his best in the BetVictor Gold Cup, defying a rating of 156 and big weight of 11st 11lb to become the first winner to carry more than 11st 9lb since Bradbury Star in 1994.
Taquin Du Seuil was one of just three Grade 1 chase winners in the BetVictor field and the only horse in the race who had won at the highest level over fences and hurdles – he won the 2012 Grade 1 Challow Hurdle.
It was the second time in as many seasons this valuable handicap has gone the way of the winner of a Grade 1 chase. Last season, the BetVictor was won by Annacotty – the winner of the 2013 Kauto Star Novices' Chase – who pulled up at Cheltenham last Saturday bidding for a repeat win.
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