The Bet365 Gold Cup (formerly the Whitbread Gold Cup), which takes place at Sandown on Saturday 28th April, is a grade 3 handicap chase run over 3 miles 5½ furlongs and it signals the end of the British national hunt season. It is always a hugely competitive race, however the quality of this year’s renewal may suffer due to its proximity to the English, Irish and Scottish Grand Nationals.

Below we take a look at the trends for the past 10 years:

Age (Win-Place-Runners)
6yo: 1-2-9
7yo: 1-6-22
8yo: 4-7-41
9yo: 1-3-38
10yo: 1-3-34
11yo: 2-6-19
12yo+: 0-1-8
Horses aged 6 to 8: 6-16-74
Horses aged 9+: 4-12-104
Younger horses have held the call, with 6 of last10 winners being aged 6 to 8.
Of the 4 winners aged 9+, 3 had won a grade 2 or 3 chase previously and the other had won the Grade B Troytown Chase and was runner-up in the Irish Grand National on previous start.

Breeding
French Bred: 4-19-60
Irish bred: 4-5-82
British bred: 1-4-23
USA bred: 1-0-4
Other: 0-0-2
Over past 8 years French breds have a record of 4-17-48, which compares well to horses bred in all other countries, combined record of 4-5-87. French bred horses have filled 21 of 30 places since 2004 and they represented only 35.6% of the total runners.

Weight (Win-Place-Runners)
Horses carrying 10-7 or more: 7-17-90
Horses carrying 10-6 or less: 3-11-81
7 of 10 winners carried 10-7 or more from approximately 52.6% of total runners.
Top Weight: 07PF030P4P (0-2-10)
Both horses allotted top weight to make the frame were ridden by 7lb claimers

Official Ratings
Horses rated 146 or higher: 2-6-33
Horses rated 132 to 145: 8-17-104
Horses rated 131 or lower: 0-5-34
8 of 10 winners were officially rated 132 to 145, though they have represented approximately 60.8% of the total runners.
Horses racing from out of the handicap: 2-4-34

Recent/Past Form
10 of 10 winners finished in first 6 on last completed chase start
8 of 10 winners had last chase start in a graded contest (2 exceptions ran in class 2 chase worth 30K+)
10 of 10 winners had run in the past 50 days.
10 of 10 winners had run at least 3 times that season
10 of 10 winners had won over 2M 4F+
8 of 10 winners had won over 3M 1F+
8 of 10 winners had run in 9 or fewer handicap chases (2 exceptions finished 4th in previous year's race)
9 of 10 winners had won no more than 2 handicap chases
7 of 10 winners had run in a novice chase that season or previous season
3 of 10 winners were novice chasers
9 of 10 winners won a race worth 20K+
7 of 10 winners had won a listed or graded race (2 of 3 exceptions had won a chase worth 40K+)

Other Races
Previous season's winner: 4659P (0-0-5)
Highest placed finisher from last year to return: 465F93P3P (0-3-9)
Rewards4Racing Handicap Chase winner (Galaxy Rock): 20P3 (0-2-4)
Kent National Winner (Upham Atom): 4 (0-1-1)
Mobile Betting At paddypower.com Handicap Chase winner (Dover's Hill): P02 (0-1-3)
London National winner (Deep Purple): 6 (0-0-1)
Pertemps Network Handicap Chase winner (Qianshan Leader): 0P (0-0-2)
2 of 10 winners ran in the Scottish National last time out, finishing 1U
2 of 10 winners ran in the Aintree Grand National last time out, both unseating
2 of 10 winners ran in JLT Specialty H'cap Chase, finishing 3P
2 of 3 novice winners ran in the Scilly Isles Novice Chase, finishing 35
2 of 10 winners (2 of last 4) ran in the Charlie Hall finishing 34
2 of 10 winners ran in previous Bet365 Gold Cup, finishing 44
7 of 10 winners ran at the Cheltenham Festival (2 JLT H'cap Chase, 1 4M NH Novice Chase, 1 Cross-Country, 1 Ryanair, 1 Arkle & 1 World Hurdle)
8 of 10 winners had their last start in a Cheltenham chase or in Irish/Scottish/Aintree Grand National (both exceptions ran in a hurdle)

Trainers
Philip Hobbs (2-5-13) trained the winner in 2006 and 2008 and has filled 4 of the 11 places in past 3 years.
Paul Nicholls (1-8-25) saddled Ad Hoc to win this in 2001 & 2003.
Irish trained runners (2-1-15) have won 2 of last 10 runnings from 8.8% of total runners.

Price
7 of 10 winners were priced between 6/1 and 16/1
No strong trends on trends on the prices, though there have been a few upsets recently with winners at 20/1 and 25/1 in past 4 years.
Favourites (0-6-12) have failed to win this in past 10 year, level stakes loss of 10.00.

Summary:
Based on the trends from the past 10 years you are looking for a horse:
· French bred
· Aged 6 to 8 (or placed in this race last year)
· Carrying 10-7 to 11-5
· Officially rated 132 to 145
· Run in the past 50 days
· Finished in first 6 on last completed chase start
· Had last run at Cheltenham Festival, in a grand national or over hurdles
· Ran in a race at 2012 Cheltenham Festival
· Run at least 3 times this season
· Won over 3M 1F+
· Won a class 2 or higher chase worth 20K+
· Run in no more than 9 handicap chases (won no more than 2)
· Trained by Philip Hobbs or in Ireland