Richard Johnson’s Day 4 Cheltenham Tips: Dicky gives us his Gold Cup verdict

Friday at the Cheltenham Festival means one thing - it’s Gold Cup day!

Former champion jockey Richard Johnson, who won the big one twice during his career, shares his fancies for the card after tipping up Bob Olinger at 11/1 in the Stayers' on Thursday.

So, here's Richard Johnson's Day 4 Cheltenham tips...

Day 4 - Gold Cup Day

The big race on day four of the Cheltenham Festival is, of course, the Cheltenham Gold Cup (16:00).

Richard views the market leaders in the race, starting with Galopin Des Champs...

“Galopin Des Champs has to be one of the greatest horses ever, he would have won in the last five festivals were it not for the fall in Turners in 2022.”

The nine-year-old hacked up by three and a half lengths in the race last year and has had a similar campaign this season, winning on his last two starts at Leopardstown in the Savills Chase at Christmas and Irish Gold Cup in February.

“Willie Mullins campaigns him normally, so he doesn’t wrap him in cotton wool and save him for Cheltenham.

As long as the ground is good to soft and not soft, we’re trying to find reasons why he won’t win.”

Of the rest of the field, Richard thinks Banbridge looks the biggest threat, and that his form will look stronger if Il Est Francais runs well in the Ryanair Chase on Thursday.

Meanwhile, he doesn’t rate the chances of the two British-trained runners in the race, Ahoy Senor and Royal Pagaille, trained by Lucinda Russell and Venetia Williams respectively.

“At the moment UK trainers haven’t got anything good enough to win the Gold Cup. The Irish have the strongest team.”

Elsewhere on the card, the opening race, the Triumph Hurdle at 1.20pm looks like being an exciting renewal.

“When you’ve got owners paying big money for Group 1 winners on the flat, it’s great to see people getting involved and get nice horses.”

The betting is headed by the James Owen-trained East India Dock, which will face Nicky Henderson’s Lulumba and Gavin Cromwell’s Hello Neighbour. All three are unbeaten over hurdles this season, so it could be a cracking start to Gold Cup day.

Richard will be on the track with us daily on Betfred TV, and we'll be covering his Cheltenham Tips here at Betfred Insights each day of the Festival.