The Cheltenham Gold Cup picture still looks to have ample room for new contenders so it's no surprise there is a similarly wide-open look to Sunday's Hennessy Gold Cup at Leopardstown although it could be worth betting Boston Bob can step up to fill at least one breach.
That does require believing that Ruby Walsh has got it wrong in picking Boston Bob’s stable companion On His Own to win this weekend’s €150,000 centrepiece and the champion jockey rarely gets it wrong when it counts.
The fact that On His Own has 4lbs in hand of Boston Bob and current Cheltenham title-holder Lord Windermere on official ratings – and that he beat all but two of his eight opponents in the Lexus at Christmas – means Walsh’s call is typically logical.
However, it is hard to ignore that when faced with the choice between the two Graham Wylie-owned stars in the past, Walsh has sided with Boston Bob. It can hardly have been a straightforward pick.
Walsh also has to factor in On His Own’s habit of jumping right – hardly a plus on a left-handed track – and that despite finishing an unlucky and controversial runner-up in last year’s Gold Cup, most bookmakers have Boston Bob at considerably shorter odds for next month’s blue-riband prize.
Big race dominance
It is this meeting’s fate to always be perceived through such a Cheltenham prism. Only for that, Willie Mullins’s achievement in aiming for a tenth Hennessy victory with his two hopefuls would be recognised even more as the exceptional piece of singular big race dominance it is. If Boston Bob or On His Own does make it ten on Sunday, it will inevitably get viewed through the champion trainer’s ambition to finally win the big one in five weeks’ time.
Whether Boston Bob is up to breaking Mullins’s run of four seconds in the Cheltenham Gold Cup is debatable but his Hennessy credentials are as solid as anything else in the race.
He has fewer than five lengths to make up on On His Own from the Lexus, should relish better ground conditions and Paul Townend has won three times on him.
Lord Windermere’s status as a Gold Cup winner is assured forever but an official 160 rating leaves him with only 2lbs in hand of Foxrock who is stepping up from handicaps while Carlingford Lough should also step up from his Lexus run.
Even Home Farm, a first-fence faller in the Lexus, could surprise a lot of people at a big price on quicker ground.
But taken on its own substantial €86,250 to the winner merits, Boston Bob represents potential Hennessy betting value. Whether he will represent Cheltenham value is a quandary that can be saved for another day.
