A Gold Cup clue at Catterick? It might not be as strange as it sounds

There can't have been many Cheltenham Festival pointers gleaned from a Monday fixture at Catterick, but we got one this week. Although Greatwood Hurdle fourth First Impression bounced back to form to win the Class 3 feature, he didn't scream out a festival handicap plot. Instead, it was events earlier on the card that caught the eye.

Trainer Patrick Neville caused a bit of a stir by winning the first three races, a hat-trick gained at combined odds of 287-1, as he continues to make a real name for himself this season, and at Catterick, he showed he can spot an opportunity when one presents itself. With a low turnout due to the unseasonably quick ground, Neville was responsible for three of the five runners in the opening two races and then saddled a one-two in the third to seal the first treble of his training career.

So what's this got to do with Cheltenham? Well, before his marvellous Monday, Neville's only winning horse this season had been The Real Whacker, whose two victories had both come at Cheltenham, most recently in the Grade 2 Dipper Novices' Chase on New Year's Day, making him second favourite for the Brown Advisory Novices' Chase and still a possible runner in the Gold Cup.