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Equinties - Haldon Gold Cup day
BGP Capital
November 07, 2025
Gm Equinauts
It’s Haldon Gold Cup day at Exeter and boy has it been won by some good horses historically,
and Nicholls’ Champion Chase winning POLITOLOGUE is one of them:
Big Paul had a habit of cleaning up in this race but he hasn’t taken the trophy home since 2022 when GREANETEEN bagged it. To be fair to Nicholls, he hasn’t had the calibre required to win entered the last few years. He does today though.
Let’s just hope he runs!
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Let’s dive in!
HEADLINE ROUNDUP
MULLINS DOUBLE
They were short, but both IL ETAIT TEMPS and SPINDLEBERRY obliged at Clonmel yesterday for Willie Mullins. Both horses looked very good, and both could have their future targets set for the UK.
Let’s start with IL ETAIT TEMPS, as a clash against JONBON again could be on the cards, and it could happen much sooner than March.
Firstly, just what a career IL ETAIT TEMPS has had without being truly classed as a ‘hype horse’. He’s won five Grade 1s, and his win in the Celebration Chase was devastating. Yesterday wasn’t a standout effort, as the race was pretty bad, though it was good to see him back on the track.
What race do connections have in mind? Well, it’s the Grade 1 Tingle Creek, as Paul Townend said: "Willie's plan before he left [for America and Australia] was the Tingle Creek.
“We always thought an awful lot of him, but he didn't jump hurdles well. He's only a handy horse but jumps fences economically and well. The engine was always there but he'd been hard on himself and it's taken him time to mature, and us time to figure him out.
"He was very settled early, and for a long way I wondered if he was too settled. He took the lead before I wanted to. He woke up and settled it quickly. Down the hill, when he got competitive with the horse in front of him, he knew he was going back racing.”
Nicky Henderson was adamant in his post-race analysis on Sandown Finale Day that JONBON wasn’t at his best, so hopefully this will be the time to find out if this is true.
JONBON, after a run in the Shloer, versus IL ETAIT TEMPS after yesterday’s Clonmel Oil. Love. It.
As for SPINDLEBERRY, the owners were certainly excited after her comfortable win in the Listed Mares’ Chase, and they are dreaming big.
How big? The Cheltenham Gold Cup? Sorry?
Look, she was good yesterday, in fact, she was very good; her jumping in particular was very, very nice to watch but, the Gold Cup, really? That’s an awfully big ask to become the first mare since DAWN RUN (!!) to win the blue riband event.
If we know Mullins like we think we know Mullins, he will make his owners a double gin and tonic, sit them down, and tell them that she is heading down the Mares Chase route. Mullins likes to go to races he knows he can win, and based on yesterday, she can very much take the Mares’ Chase at the Fez.
THE SKELTONS
We want to go back to an interview that was conducted at Chepstow on Tuesday with Mick Fitz and Harry Skelton.
At the start of this piece, Harry basically says that their novice hurdlers, who wouldn’t mind a bit of softer ground in time, are a bit behind others in the yard, and they will essentially come on for their first runs. This is fine. We imagine a lot of yards are like this, and it usually shows. Just take a look at WILSTAR and JOYAU ALLEN for Murphy and Nicholls yesterday.
However, the Skeltons have been getting a bit of flack, and we can see why. On Wednesday, DOUBLE MEASURE probably should have won the 2m maiden hurdle at Chepstow if Harry asked him to go before the last hurdle. He also didn’t pick up his whip in the final furlong, which from an optics POV isn’t great.
Then, yesterday, SINNATRA travelled like a dream into the race won by CAPTAIN HUGO, but he didn’t go past, and he finished second.
This is a sensitive topic to deal with because of many reasons, however, it’s very reasonable to talk about it in a level-headed manner.
We’ve seen a lot of noise on racing X calling for the Skeltons to be dragged into the stewards for Harry’s rides recently but now the dust has settled and the bets have been paid out (or not as it may seem), let’s look at this with a level head.
Both DOUBLE MEASURE and SINNATRA looked like horses who took a blow in the final furlong of the race, evident more so with SINNATRA who was taking on a race-fit rival.
You have to remember NH racing is a long season, it’s tough racing and the horses themselves are young and inexperienced with a whole career in front of them. One might argue Dan Skelton has given DOUBLE MEASURE a lovely introduction to racing. He travelled beautifully into contention and was very much on the bridle coming into the last. The last hurdle is where our consideration to Harrys ride is most pertinent because it was hear DOUBLE MEASURE twisted his body to get over it and perhaps showed signs of a lack of fitness. Harry then looked after him to finish second behind the THE BLUE ROOM.
Had Harry ridden him how the ‘judges’ on X wanted him to, he could have been shoved into the last and quite possible have come down. Or he might have stayed on his feet, been flogged to the line, with the result perhaps no different, but emptied more of the tank and subsequently need a lot longer recovery between races.
Ultimately, Harry’s rides on DOUBEL MEASURE and SINNATRA cannot be looked at in parallel to the famous case of ‘that’ summer horse LANGER DAN or indeed, more recently UNEXPECTED PARTY (who was a blatant non-trier at Cheltenham recently.
Yes, we imagine these novice hurdlers will have a similar improvement in form to what we have seen with FORTUNE DE MER, which includes a nice start to life over hurdles before showing their full potential next time in something like a novice, or even a Graded contest, but one needs to remember these novices are indeed novices and babies who need to be nurtured.
Ultimately, the Skelton’s know how to play the game with their older horses (and too right, it gets winners on the board for the British in the big events (Martin Pipe did it back in the day)), but they can’t be thrown shade for acting responsibly with their talented younger stock.
If you’re backing Dan’s first time out novice hurdlers and butt hurt because Harry hasn’t beaten it up to go win a lowly event on a Thursday, then go have a look at that shiny ting on the wall.
THE HALDON GOLD CUP
The Grade 2 Haldon Gold Cup is one of those few races in the calendar that is a Grade 2 and a handicap at the same time. That being said, there’s only 3lbs between the top two, and a further 5lbs back to the third-top weight.
KALIF DU BERLAIS heads the market and the weights after his Grade 1 success at Aintree, and Paul Nicholls has not been shy in talking about this horse in the summer. He thinks he is a Champion Chase prospect, and the plan starts today… if he runs.
Paul loves him, and he always has, ever since his win in the Adonis. “He’s the apple of my eye” is the quote, and this has been a long-term plan to start his season off. A few horses have race fitness, but he is a Grade 1 horse in a handicap. Could be too classy here.
JPR ONE won this race last year, and he will like the conditions of the race. He goes well fresh, he likes the ground, and he obviously goes well around the track. Therefore, he’s absolutely solid, and he does have nice form with JONBON. He also beat DJELO in this last year, which now looks like pretty good form. This is his Gold Cup.
MARTATOR has dropped like a stone through the weights, but this is for a reason. He has been beaten 30 lengths, 38 lengths, 16 lengths, and 39 lengths in his previous four races, which is pretty poor. He won on seasonal reappearance last year, so he does go well fresh, and his last winning mark of 140 is just 1lb lower than his current mark (Ned Fox was claiming 5lbs that day, in fairness). This is the time of year for Venetia Williams, so any amount of improvement could occur, and we think he might suddenyl spring back to life given he has a remarkably similar profile to DJELO who went close in this race last year.
Right, some race-fit horses now. THISTLE ASK has won two races since the start of October, and he still looked very unexposed based on his win at Wetherby last month.
Although he technically only has a 4lb penalty for his win last week, because this is a limited handicap chase, he is effectively running with an extra 11lbs on his back than he should do. KALIF DU BERLAIS, and his rating of 156, means the bottom weight is 136, and THISTLE ASK should only really be running off 125.
It was a really smart performance at Wetherby, so even with this weight issue, he cannot be ruled out. They are striking while the iron is hot, and he will like the nice ground on offer.
SAINT SEGAL has turned into a bit of a ‘lol’ horse on Racing X. For so long, he was this ‘maybe horse’ who always found one too good, despite looking so well-handicapped. Between March 2023 and March 2025, he won just one race, and he looked well-in with his mark between 129-139 on all 14 of those starts.
But he’s sorted out his jumping and now, all of a sudden, he’s rated 148 after a win at Chepstow in April and a win against IL RIDOTO last month (admittedly when Paul Nicholls’ horse was having a day out). He is good, and many people thought he would eventually turn into a high 140 horse in time, but the way he’s got here is less than conventional, and he has been given 10lbs in his last two races for winning winnable contests. The ground should be fine, and he’s clearly in good form.
HERE COME GEORGIE completes the field. Like THISTLE ASK, he’s out of the handicap, but he isn’t in as good form, and he doesn’t have proper standout form in the book like some.
Verdict: Nicholls has taken four of the last ten running’s of this race so knows how to win this and typically sends the big guns on their trajectory up (think POLITOLOGUE and GREANETEEN). If KALIF DU BERLAIS runs (ground is an issue) and he is as good as Nicholls thinks he is, which is a Champion Chaser, then he really needs to win this. We desperately want Nicholls to have another star. Racing needs it. He’s on the slide suggesting he might not run. At the weights, Skelton’s THISTLE ASK is his biggest danger even if JPR ONE’s Gold Cup is today.
RISK ON
A big day yesterday going four from four including the 15/1 treble.
TIGERS MOON in the 15.45 shouldn’t lose for a bit of leverage to any bet. Else where we like only one today:
12.25 BIGLESISBACK
She’s dropped in trip here which is a slight concern but on pedigree she’s well clear of this lot. We’d like her to be ridden more prominently. 2/1 a bet.
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