Trainer Jamie Snowden hoping 'lightning strikes twice' for stable in Coral Gold Cup

Trainer Jamie Snowden is hoping ‘lightning strikes twice’ and delivers a second successive victory in the £250,000 Coral Gold Cup a week on Saturday.

Datsalrightgino secured an emphatic victory for his Lambourn stable 12 months ago and he is now target Newbury’s signature jumps race with Colonel Harry, also owned by last year’s winning connections, the GD Partnership.

Colonel Harry, 8-1 favourite with the sponsor, has a similar profile to last year’s winner having won a Grade 2 Novice Chase last season and being unexposed at the 3m2f trip.

Snowden said: “They are quite different horses, Colonel Harry and Datsalrightgino, but they have followed very similar paths through their careers.

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“They were both very good novice hurdlers, placed in Grade 1s and started off in the same novice chase at Chepstow.

“Gavin [Sheehan] thinks he is sure to stay. Obviously without trying it you don’t know but it is the approach we took with Datsalrightgino, hoping we would have a bit of mileage in our handicap mark by going up in trip. It obviously worked last year, and we are hoping lightning can strike twice.”

Snowden continued: “He’s bounced out of his run at Carlisle. We got the prep run into him and now the rain has come we can get him on the grass in Lambourn. He loves soft ground so the softer the better.”

Trainer's championship leader Dan Skelton took Coral Gold Cup entry Heltenham to Newbury's gallops morning on Tuesday while Ben Pauling exercised his representative Henry’s Friend, who made his seasonal reappearance at Newbury back over hurdles.

He said: “We’ve had a bit of an interrupted process leading up to the Coral Gold Cup which is our main aim. I wasn’t sure if Iwould run him or not, I felt that running him here at Newbury was going to hopefully bring him to life and it really did.

“He came back a completely different horse to the one that went into the race. I’ve got no concerns over the trip, we know he likes the track so fingers crossed. He just wouldn’t want the ground to go heavy.”