'He looks beatable' - were the bookies right to cut Al Boum Photo for Gold Cup?

'He's still the one to beat'

Unnecessary price cuts for ante-post races are a bugbear of mine and this was another example.

Al Boum Photo was taking on Acapella Bourgeois, who was 7lb worse off after finishing six lengths behind him last year, another stablemate with 20lb to find on ratings in the shape of Brahma Bull, an obvious non-stayer in Djingle and I'm A Game Changer, who is a maiden over fences.

The case for shortening him for the Gold Cup would only have been made if he had bolted up by an extremely wide margin.

Regardless, he's still the one to beat for the Cheltenham highlight and is bound to improve a bundle for this run in a race that didn't unfold all that kindly for him.
Mark Boylan, reporter

Race report:Al Boum Photo completes Grade 3 hat-trick en route to third Gold Cup

'I want to oppose him at the prices'

The only thing we found out was that Al Boum Photo still has four legs. As the odds suggested, a romp was on the cards for the star chaser and, although the race turned into a match after Brahma Bull departed and Djingle faltered with a circuit to run, he still wasn't overly impressive.

This is not to say he won't win a third Cheltenham Gold Cup. Last year he beat Acapella Bourgeois in this race by six lengths in easier fashion and went to the festival and justified 100-30 favouritism, but with the bookies already cutting him to that price three months in advance, you have to look elsewhere for your ante-post punt.

He was far from blistering in the Gold Cup last year – the first four were separated by a length and three-quarters – and it's impossible to believe he's a cut above. He looks beatable and for that reason I want to oppose him at the prices.
Tom Collins, tipster

Back in business: Al Boum Photo was successful in his regular starting point at Tramore for the third year in a rowCredit: Patrick McCann

'Bookmakers aren't taking any chances'

Turn up to Tramore, win, land the Gold Cup, repeat. The first two boxes of Al Boum Photo's historic Cheltenham mission have been ticked with a performance that showed him to be in rude health and understandably the bookmakers aren't taking any chances with the two-time Gold Cup winner in the betting.

The nine-year-old did what he had to do with a deja vu performance in beating Acapella Bourgeois for the second year in succession. It was neither impressive nor mind-blowing but he got the job done – something plenty of candidates failed to do when blotting their copybooks in recent days.

With that in mind, it is perfectly justifiable that bookmakers do not want to risk anything on a horse who is one step ahead of his rivals on the Gold Cup ladder. The rest are playing catch-up now.
Matt Rennie, reporter

Click here to watch Al Boum Photo make a winning return

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