Ardaghey taken for Hennessy glory

With the weights for the Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup now in the public domain, the time is right for punters to snap up a bit of ante-post value for the Newbury feature.

Our Vic, as expected, heads the list but with David Pipe eyeing a trip to Haydock for the Betfair Chase instead, the handicap is set for some major adjustments in the run-up to the race.

The weights are likely to go up by at least a stone so those towards the bottom of the current list take on an extra interest.

Much has been made of State Of Play's claims for the race, and he is already the favourite at around 7-1, but there is some real value to be had in Ardaghey.

Nigel Twiston-Davies' runner is a best-priced 20-1 with Coral and Ladbrokes, which seems very generous at this early stage.

The seven-year-old was always going to be a chaser and only had two starts over hurdles - notching a notable victory over The Listener on the second occasion at Leicester.

Ardaghey also lost little in defeat on his chasing bow at Aintree last season when coming up against subsequent Festival winner and Gold Cup possible Star De Mohaison.

The Lord Americo gelding then failed to shine in three starts before coming good at Towcester - a run which was enough to book a place in the Royal & SunAlliance Chase at the Festival.

He lost his rider early on in that event, however, but put up a much better performance the following day when he fell at the third-last in the National Hunt Chase - having travelled well for a long way.

Ardaghey then disappointed again at Aintree behind State Of Play but put his patchy form behind him with a convincing success at Cheltenham on his reappearance.

Although winning an amateur riders' race is not the most orthodox preparation, it was a pretty hot event with four rated 130 or higher and the added presence of Festival winner Hot Weld.

Ardaghey was really impressive though, putting in a series of well-judged leaps before coming to the last well clear and full of running.

On that run there is every hope he will improve for the step back up to three miles and two furlongs and does have the profile of a typical Hennessy winner.

He must certainly be one for the shortlist at 20-1 and given that Twiston-Davies took the Hennessy with a similar type in King's Road in 2000, Ardaghey has the appearance of a horse laid out to do his best.