Hobbs hopeful for Monkerhostin

Philip Hobbs is hopeful Monkerhostin can take advantage of an attractive handicap mark in the Paddy Power Gold Cup at Cheltenham.

The progressive seven-year-old, who is a smart hurdler and won the Coral Cup at last season’s Cheltenham Festival, is just 1lb out of the handicap in tomorrow’s feature after being raised for winning at Stratford last month.

“He’s still 20lb lower over fences than he is over hurdles. It doesn’t always work like that but I hope it is a big advantage,” Hobbs told At The Races.

“The weights were only published a couple of weeks beforehand and our big decision was what was likely to run in the race and whether we needed to go up the handicap to get in the handicap or was he better off not running.

“But it’s worked out well – it couldn’t be better.”

Hobbs also runs impressive Aintree winner Farmer Jack in the showpiece. “Farmer Jack won very easily at Aintree the other day and he must have a good chance as well,” he added.

“Farmer Jack is a very nice horse but Monkerhostin, you could argue, is the best handicapped.”

Monkerhostin is a 7-2 chance with the sponsors for the Paddy Power, while Farmer Jack is a 9-1 chance with the same firm.