Thistlecrack takes weight of the jumping world on his shoulders

Thistlecrack has big shoulders and a broad back. He'll need them, if he is to almost singlehandedly carry the Cheltenham Gold Cup from here to mid-March, a task that is not often entrusted to a once-raced novice, albeit one with unbounded potential.

His presence at the head of the ante-post market could suggest one of two things. Thistlecrack could be head and those shoulders above his rivals, a horse apart, a paragon. One day he might well be, but at the moment he's simply a hugely promising novice with the scope to go all the way. It can't be that, then. So does it suggest that the Gold Cup is looking a little 18-carat this season? The death of Vautour might be considered to have left jumping's most prestigious race looking slightly threadbare.

Take Thistlecrack away and the market is led by Don Cossack and Coneygree, previous Gold Cup winners who have yet to reappear after sustaining serious injury, and whose brilliance may certainly be compromised as a result. Enforced downtime subtracts from ability, it doesn't enhance it. After those two crocked cracks comes Djakadam, second in the last two Gold Cups. Although he may yet be the heir of The Dikler and The Fellow in flirting with the bullseye before hitting it (if he were called The Djakadam it might be in his favour), it is an unusual career arc and it implies vulnerability at the highest level.