Neville backing The Real Whacker to belie big Gold Cup odds

Patrick Neville believes The Real Whacker is being underestimated ahead of his second tilt at the Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup.

The nine-year-old is a previous Festival winner having edged out Gerri Colombe in a pulsating Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase two seasons ago, although it is fair to say subsequent results have been mixed.

He was pulled up as a 40-1 shot for the Gold Cup last season, but has fared better in his two most recent starts this term, with victory in the Charlie Hall Chase followed by fourth in the King George at Kempton on Boxing Day.

The Real Whacker is readily available at 50-1 for this year’s renewal of the blue riband at Prestbury Park, but with the presence of dual Gold Cup hero Galopin Des Champs likely to ensure it will be a small field come the day, Neville is confident his stable star can outrun his odds.

“He’s in great form and it’s just a case of keeping him where he is and getting him there now,” the Wensleydale-based trainer said on Thursday.

“We might take him away next week – I might see if I can get him into Catterick or Newcastle for a gallop, just for a little flick around. He doesn’t take a whole pile of schooling, so he might have one or two pops over a fence and that’ll be it.

“He’s worked a few times, he seems good and fresh and well in himself and the ground is drying out, so all going well, we’ll be at Cheltenham in two weeks’ time.

“Brian Hughes is riding him and will have a sit on him next week. That’s all that’s left to do.”

While respectful of Galopin Des Champs and King George winner Banbridge, Neville sees nothing to fear from the rest of the opposition.

When it was put to him his charge, while trained by an Irishman, could in fact be Britain’s leading hope of winning a first Gold Cup since Native River’s success in 2018, Neville added: “We gave you a Festival winner when he was there before and we don’t mind who he’s representing, as long as he gets his head in front!

“He’s operated around the track and if you take the first two in the betting out of it, it’s wide open. Of the rest of them, you’d see his King George run is nearly as good as what’s there.

“The bookies don’t think so, but they’re going on last year’s Gold Cup run and you can draw a line through that because the ground went for him. I wouldn’t take any notice of that.

“Let the bookies price him as they want, we don’t mind if he’s 100-1 or 150-1 – he doesn’t know what price he is.

“If he was trained by another trainer, he’d probably be a lot shorter, but that’s it.”

The Real Whacker also holds an entry in the Randox Grand National at Aintree on April 5, but all the focus is on Cheltenham at this stage.

Neville said: “We’ll have a look (at Aintree), but at the moment we’re only thinking of one thing and that’s the Gold Cup.

“The National would probably be a next year plan, more so than this year, but we left him in it and we’ll just see what way things are nearer the time.”