Great Endeavour heads the Spinal Research Gold Cup betting

The withdrawal of horses of the calibre of Poquelin and Wishfull Thinking from Saturday’s Spinal Research The Atlantic 4 Gold Cup has left the betting wide open.

Great Endeavour, trained by David Pipe, was impressive in winning the Paddy Power Gold Cup by seven lengths recently, and also achieved a very respectable fourth place finish in the Hennessey Gold Cup at Newbury.

Currently priced at 6/1, the horse will be ridden by Timmy Murphy, and could be a particularly good bet to win if the ground is, as expected, good as stamina should not be a problem over the three mile distance.

Quantitativeeasing is 6/1 joint-favourite for the race, and the horse owned in part by David Johnson also could be an interesting proposition, as he demonstrated his credentials when finishing runner-up in the Paddy Power.

Ghizao represents the main hope of race sponsor Andy Stewart, also co-owned by Johnson, and the gelding can currently be backed at 8/1.

Fancied for the Arkle earlier in the year, the Paul Nicholls-trained seven-year-old can improve on the disappointing fifth place finish he achieved at Cheltenham in that race.

At bigger prices, Medermit can never be dismissed, and 14/1 looks a very generous price for the grey who achieved a decent third place finish in the Amlin 1965 Chase at Ascot in November, bested only by Master Minded and Somersby.

It could be worth backing Alan King’s chaser each-way at such lengthy odds, whilst the Willie Mullins-trained Quel Esprit could also give you a good run for your money at the same price.

Elsewhere in the field, a host of shots are available at odds of over 20/1, and amongst them Woolcombe Folly, top of the weights in the race, at 25s, and Calgary Bay at 33/1 have each-way chances, but they could be undone by the quality of the field here.