Santiago to down mighty Stradivarius in Gold Cup thriller

4.20 Ascot, 2m4f Group 1

The star of the show and possibly the meeting is the phenomenal three-time winner

Stradivarius.

John Gosden’s mighty son of Sea The Stars has beaten all that has dared challenge him in this race and he bids to etch his name into history by matching the great Yeats’ achievement of four Gold Cup wins.

Sent off favourite for 19 of his 27 starts, he has carried the weight of the punters’ money on many occasions and delivered for them many times.

He will again be one of the bankers of the week, but it could pay to take on the sevenyear-old this time around.

There are a few rivals in this year’s race who the favourite has yet to compete against, such as last year’s Derby hero

Serpentine and the Mark Johnston-trained Subjectivist.

The ground looks too fast to consider last season’s group 1 Prix du Cadran winner

Princess Zoe, who has won all her 7 races on ground described as soft or heavy and could possibly be a non-runner if no rain appears before Thursday.

The one who catches my eye is last year’s Irish Derby winner Santiago, who should benefit most from the presence of front-running Epsom winner Serpentine.

A winner at last year’s meeting when landing the Queen’s Vase, Santiago looked every bit a future staying star in that race and followed up in the Irish Derby on good ground.

The colt clearly shows his best form at this time of the year as he has yet to win in four attempts since his Classic success, but he has shown enough in his two runs this season to suggest he could improve markedly for this race.

O’Brien has a habit of getting his Group 1 horses ready for the big day and that seems to be the way Santiago has been campaigned so far this season.

A danger to all could come from one of the trainers son’s in the shape of the Joseph O’Brien trained Twilight Payment.

Last year’s Melbourne Cup winner is clearly talented and should handle the good to firm ground anticipated but connection could have one eye on going back to Australia later in the year as their main target for the gelding.

1. SANTIAGO 2. Stradivarius

3. Twilight Payment