My shortlist for the Coral Cup, (minus Peregrine Run who I really like too and has been mentioned already).
Last time out winners do well in this but for me i’m looking primarily for winning/placed form throughout the season rather than a plot horse. Going back over the last 4 years and the 4 placed horses, they have the following seasonal form leading up to the race:
Diamond King 1124
Long House Hall U111
Ubak 24U4
Blazer 9193
Aux Ptit Soins 11
Zabana 13
Activial 33
Tagliatelle 14111
Whisper 2133
Get me out of here 80
Bayan 132112
Smashing 911
Medinas 1422
Mister Ekhart 2
Fiveforthree (no runs)
Master of the Sea 1111
Plenty of wins in there or solid placed form. Of the exceptions excuses could be made: Ubak was coming back from a 20 month layoff that season, Get Me Out of Here had previously finished 2nd in 3 previous festival races and Blazer had won and one of his 9th place finishes was in the Betfair Hurdle going off 3/1F.
Peregrine Run - 142 - 12/1
Plenty others have given very good reasoning on his chances already. No need to elaborate further. Very strong chance.
Scoir Mear - 139 - 25/1
A look at the betting shows Automated as second favourite but i’m more interested in Scoir Mear - the horse that came second to Automated in December. That day he was receiving 2lbs and was beaten 1.25 lengths but if they both line up in this race he’ll be getting 4lbs off Automated so an extra 2lbs hoping to reverse that 1.25 length beating. He also probably went too soon that day and became a sitting duck for the winner to catch him 2 out. His run prior was a good second to Jury Duty (now rated 145 and high in the betting for the Pertemps) and then his final start had arguably a very questionable ride given to him and a more positive ride could easily have resulted in another win.
Rated just 113 in October, his 4 runs since have produced the form line of 1222 shows that he’s a progressive horse who in my opinion has further improvement in him. Yet to run at the course or festival but he’s ran in field sizes of 19, 19, 16, 12 and 10 so a big field handicap should hold no fears. Most of his form is on soft or heavy but he’s won on Yielding ground and it doesn’t look like good ground will inconvenience him.
He’s rated 138 and is number 59 in the entries which just sneaked in last year (entry 59 was rated 139) so i’m hoping he can squeak in at the foot of the weights. Has gone to some classy sorts over the last few years at high weights and there looks plenty who fit that bill in the race this year but there’s also been the likes of Aux Ptits Soins off 139 and Son of Flicka off 135 in the last 5 renewals who have won off one of the bottom weights.
Renneti - 149 - 20/1
Doesn’t exactly fit the criteria i’m after above in his 2 runs this season but I think this horse is screaming out for 2m5 in a big field handicap and has at least placed against 2 smart horses in Jezki and Sutton Place this year. A tricky sort and you have to hope he’ll be more willing to go at the start than in previous runs but you have to feel like there is a big handicap in him somewhere. He showed plenty of promise at the back end of 2015 in some of the biggest handicap races over the flat and the jumps. 4th against Grumeti in the Cesarwitch, 4th in the Greenwood Hurdle at Cheltenham (where he was very slow away) and then 3rd in the Ladbroke Hurdle at Ascot. He’s a horse that does all his best work at the very end of his races and the 2 miles never seems to be enough for the horse and I’ve been waiting for him to come out in a big handicap at a longer trip ever since those runs.
Now the worry with Ruby is he is very good at making it look like a horse has plenty left in the tank when really they have nothing left. That could have been the case here but it looked like Ruby was saving a fair bit back on him in his last run without pushing the horse. May be passed over by Ruby on the day but Danny Mullins has ridden him in 2 of those big handicap runs and i’d be more than happy to see him onboard once again. That race could very well have been a sighter for the Coral Cup.
Beat the current fav Tombstone in that race and although Tombstone would likely have a lot more improvement to come between the pair (that was Tombstone's seasonal debut) they’d be running off the same weight once again and at the prices it may be worth siding with Renneti.