The London Gold Cup is such an important handicap.

Since 2015 alone it has been won by horses such as Time Test who went on to be rated 121, Defoe (119), Communique (115), Headman (115) and Bay Bridge (122) with proper Group 1 horses among them.

We tipped up Israr to win it in 2022, who himself beat the previous course record at Chester last week in a Group 2 even in defeat, while in ’23 we went for 10/1 shot Bold Act.

Bold Act was beaten only a neck, has been placed three times in graded company in the USA recently and was odds-on to beat Silver Knott who will now be campaigned at Grade 1 level.

You absolutely have to find the horse in this race who will become a top-level performer, or very close to it, with these being our top six of the 14 declared: 

Main Contenders

Black Run 

Black Run is at the top of the weights and so is already a horse ready to go into some form of pattern company potentially.

The downside to that of course is that he is weighted accordingly and topweight is not an easy thing to carry in a race featuring obvious improvers.

He did win nicely at Newmarket last time though and is himself moving up the ladder. Tom Marquand rides.

Chantilly 

Vying for favouritism is Chantilly. This is a Coolmore horse, trained by Aidan O’Brien who won it last year, ridden by Ryan Moore and by Galileo which means on paper there is just so much to like about him.

Improving steadily since his debut last August, Chantilly managed to win for the first time early last month at Leopardstown with a nice performance.

His last four races have been run on ground described officially as “heavy”, which hands us a problem. Is there simply a ton of improvement to come from him now that he gets decent racing ground, or has he needed that deeper surface to show his best?

Your money would be on the former, but to what extent? That’s something we can’t put a number on but what we do know is that he won’t be a 95 horse for long and so must be at least reasonably well treated.

Fighter Command 

John and Thady Gosden’s runner is ridden by Benoit De La Sayette and as such a lightly-raced horse he could be the biggest improver of the lot.

Added to that is the fact that he gets into this race on a mark of only 84, despite still looking like a horse that could reach group company and that means that he is very well handicapped indeed. Is there any substance to his form though?

Well, we reckon he made the best debut of this lot. True, it was only in December and others have had more time to improve from their first runs, but it means something.

Since that first race, he has run too free when beaten at odds-on at Yarmouth (should have won), and was still not the finished article when landing the odds last time at Windsor.

He has been around some decent horses but has lots more to come, making his handicap mark look very tempting.

Goodwood Odyssey 

This horse is 2-3 now after winning nicely at Sandown last time during the Classic Trial meeting.

He can improve and certainly makes the list, but he’s up 7lbs for winning and while he is a good young handicapper there are others who may just be better treated.

King’s Gambit 

Harry Charlton has made a great start as the sole licence-holder in the yard and he now has William Buick on board his King’s Gambit, challenging at the top of the market.

He had three runs last year, finally finishing only a head behind Bracken’s Laugh and so his form is pretty good. He is surely on his way to 100+ now so he’s handicapped nicely and has a big chance.

Persica 

Richard Hannon’s Persica definitely has the ability for this, though his latest form should not be taken too literally. He was third behind Guineas winner Notable Speech but in truth has just a few pounds of improvement to show now we reckon.

Summary

With three top horses on our list drawn in 11, 12 and 13 we aren’t too bothered about the effects of the draw here.

Goodwood Odyssey is the solid handicapper in the line-up, while there could be anything coming from Chantilly but his price may well reflect the yard he comes from as much as his ability.

With potentially so much weight in hand, the vote goes to FIGHTER COMMAND for the Gosdens who can win this race again.