Kerry waiting on rain to unleash exciting Top Gamble

Kerry Lee is hoping the heavens open this week to allow Top Gamble, who is at his most effective with plenty of give in the ground, to take up one of three possible engagements at the weekend.

Winner of two Grade 2 chases last season, including Newbury’s Game Spirit Chase in which he demolished Dodging Bullets by ten lengths, Top Gamble has two entries at Cheltenham – Saturday’s BetVictor Gold Cup and Sunday’s Shloer Chase – plus Navan’s thetote.com Fortria Chase on Sunday.

“If it rains I'm favouring the Shloer Chase over the BetVictor,” Lee said. “I’m also looking at the Navan race, but it would need to rain there too. Top Gamble is at his best at two miles on soft ground, so we’ll have to see what the weather does. He’s in great order and ready to run.”

The going on the chase and hurdles tracks at Cheltenham on Tuesday was described as good, with the potential for approximately 20mm of rain to fall before racing on Saturday.

Clerk of the course Simon Claisse said: “We’re expecting up to 11mm of rain tonight and a similar amount Friday night into Saturday morning.”