Nebraas winning the 2021 Gold Cup as a four-year-old. Can he repeat the feat as a seven-year-old? (Candiese Lenferna Photography)
Former World Pool Gold Cup winner Nebraas looks good value for this year’s renewal.
The seven-year-old Vercingetorix’s win as a four-year-old in 2021 proved he stays the 3200m trip.
A look at his form over marathon distances this season makes interesting reading.
In the Gr 3 Chairman’s Cup over 2500m at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth he carried 60kg and was beaten two lengths into third by Future Swing to whom he gave 8kg. In the Gold Cup he will receive 1kg from Future Swing and yet is 14/1 compared to the latter’s 7/1 price. Future Swing as a four-year-old will have had 1kg of weight for age improvement since that race in January, but is still way out in the Gold Cup with Nebraas on the Chairman’s Cup form.
Furthermore, Nebraas beat Aragosta by 0,30 lengths in the Chairman’s Cup and will be 1kg better off with him in the Gold Cup.
He beat One Way Traffic by 0,35 lengths in the Chairman’s Cup and will be 3kg better off with him in the Gold Cup.
He beat Raiseahallelujah by 4,70 lengths and will be 4,5kg better off with him.
In his next start in the Gr 3 New Turf Carriers Western Cape Stayers over 2850m, Nebraas finished 0,75 lengths behind Master Redoute in fourth place and will now be 3kg better off with him in the Gold Cup.
In that race he was half-a-length behind Aragosta and will be 3kg better off with him.
He beat One Way Traffic by a length and will be 1kg better off.
He beat Raiseahallelujah by 7,25 lengths and will be only 1,5kg worse off.
In Nebraas’s next marathon start in the Caradoc Gold Cup over 2850m at Turffontein Standside he was beaten 10,50 lengths, but the soft going porbably did not suit him that day. However, even then he comes out better at the weights in the Gold Cup with Breeze Over and Raiseahallelujah on the form of that race.
In his next start in the Gr 3 Gold Bowl he was beaten 10,25 lengths. However, it should be noted he did not wear blinkers in this race for the first time in about three-and-a-half years.
He will be very much up against it with Crimson King on the form of that race as the latter won the race and is only 2kg worse off for that 10,25 length beating.
However, Crimson King has not run since then and that was three months ago.
Nebraas is also worse off with Breeze Over from that race but he rectified that with blinkers back on in a subsequent race at Hollywoodbets Greyville.
Nebraas did not fare too well in the Gr 3 Lonsdale Stirrup Cup over 2400m, but that was once again in soft going and he did stay on well from way back.
Those three below par runs, in which he had excuses in every one of them, saw him being dropped six points in all to 106.
Then back to a marathon 3000m he showed what he is made of on decent ground in the Gr 3 DSTV Gold Vase by running on strongly from well of the pace for a 1,90 length third.
He did not receive a merit rated raise for that run.
In the Gold Cup he will be 7kg better off with the winner Madison Valley for a 1,90 length beating, he will be 3kg better off with Shoot The Rapids for a 1,5 length beating, he will be 1kg better off with One Way Traffic despite beating him by 0,30 lengths, he will face Down To Business on the same terms despite beating him by 1,65 lengths, he will face Breeze Over on 1,5kg better terms despite beating him by 3,05 lengths, he will face Indian Ocean on 4,5kg better terms despite beating him by 3,55 lengths and he will face Raiseahallelujah on the same terms despite beating him by 3,65 lengths.
In last year’s Gold Cup Nebraas ran on half-a-kilogram worse terms than weight for age with stablemate Future Pearl and was beaten 2,65 lengths into third. This year Nebraas faces Future Pearl on 4,5kg terms better than weight for age, so on paper he even comes out ahead of the race favourite.
So Nebraas looks well handicapped off a 106 merit rating and he has landed a good draw of seven out of the 21 entries.
Last and certainly not least he is trained by the five-times champion trainer Sean Tarry, whose ability to get horses to their peak for big race days is second to none.
