Joey Ramdsen could end the Champions Season on a high note as his pair of Gr 1 eLan Property Group Gold Cup runners Coltrane and Disco Al appear to both have good chances.

He was bullish about both of his runners and said on his blog last week: “We maybe went a bit too hard with Coltrane early on in the season so we have freshened him up and his last two pieces of work and his gallop were quite out of the ordinary.  On his day, he is more than capable of accounting for this type of field. He appears to be a horse that is running off a reasonable mark here.

“I can say exactly the same for Disco Al. I am not entirely sure he gets the two miles but he is a horse which drops the bit in a race and needs an exceptionally strong ride when coming from off the pace. He will get that as the Master Marcus (Anton Marcus) is in the irons and the two seem to complement each other like a hand in a glove. He could be a lively runner and is also off what seems to be a reasonable mark.  Overall, the race does seem to be an exceptionally competitive affair and a high quality event and it is really good to see a strong Gold Cup.”

Disco Al (pictured) is currently a 7/1 shot with Betting World and Coltrane is an attractive 20/1 shot.

Disco Al, a gelding by Captain Al who will turn six on Gold Cup day, was only given a one point raise forwinning the Gr 2 Track And Ball Derby over 2400m at Scottsville last time out. That might not have been the truest paced race as the field finished on tip of each other. However, before that in May he ran on well over 2400m at Greyville to be runner up in the Gr 3 Lonsdale Stirrup over 2400m and is now 1kg better off with the winner Solid Speed for a 1,25 length beating. He is many a pundits idea of the winner, especially as Ramsden has always been known for his expertise in training stayers. Ramsden won the Gold Cup in 2004 with Major Bluff.

Coltrane, an Argentinian-bred Giant’s Causeway gelding who tuns seven on Gold Cup day, appears to have been overlooked by the bookmakers and the pundits on the grounds of two below par staying races at Greyville this Champions Season. He was 3,65 lengths behind Solid Speed in the Highland Night Cup over 2400m and was then 5,6 lengths behind the same horse in the Lonsdale Stirrup Cup. However, he is 1,5kg and 2kg better off for those respective runs and Ramsden’s news that he has been freshened up will be another plus point.

Coltrane beat Disco Al by 1,7 lengths in the Gr 2 J&B Urban Honey Stayers over 2850m at Kenilworth on J&B Met day, but he is now 1kg worse off. That should put them together on paper. Coltraine did benefit from a slow pace that day as he was able to sit handy from pole position draw, while Disco Al was disadvantaged by the pace as he was dropped out from a wide draw. However, in the Gold Cup it is once again Coltrane who has the draw advantage, as he jumps from barrier three and Disco Al has to jump from draw eleven. Furthermore, Coltrane has the 5000-winner rider Piere Strydom aboard.

Marcus’s only Gold Cup win was in 1991 with Icona, while Strydom has also won the country’s premier staying race only once, on the Brett Crawford-trained Reveille Boy in 2005.

Ramsden runs Gallica Rose in the weight for age plus penalties Gr 2 Gold Bracelet over 2000m. She turns five on Gold Cup day and is typical of a Silvano in that she is blossoming with age. The 102 merit-rated horse is the third highest rated horse in the race but has escaped a penalty so is the joint second best weighted horse together with Athina and the three-year-old Zante. She won the Listed East Coast Cup in good style over this course and distance in her penultimate start and she has the horses she defeated there, Bilateral, Supercede, Gathering Fame, Counting Angels and Mohave Princess held at the weights. However, she does have a wide draw to overcome. Bernard Fayd’Herbe rides.

In the Listed Umgeni Handicap over 1000m on the polytrack, they run the useful Brutal Force and this big horse should be cherry ripe having benefitted from gelding earlier in the year. He at last gets a good draw of three and Marcus will likely make use of both his early pace and his ability to go through with it all the way to the line. He is by Western Winter whose progeny tend to love all weather surrafces.

The yard also run Grey Light in the second race and the 1400m trip on the polytrack looks ideal for this robust daughter of Tapit. She has shown a liking for the polytrack and will appreciate the step up in trip from her two Champions Season efforts on the surface over the too sharp 1200m. She jumps from draw 8 in the MR 80 fillies and mares handicap and has to shoulder 62,5kg, but Fayd’Herbe is a heavyweight riderso she won’t have to carry much dead weights and she looks to be a big runner.

David Thiselton