K itty’s Light would be a hugely popular winner of the Bet365 Gold Cup on Jumps Finale day at Sandown on Saturday, and Christian Williams, his trainer, believes the seven-year-old has the right attitude and constitution to follow up his success in the Scottish Grand National last weekend. “He’s freakish for a horse,” Williams said this week. “The way he comes out of his races, you’ll never have seen anything like it.
Basically, you could nearly run him in the next race as he recovers so quickly, so there’s something inside him. I’m not sure if he’s got big lungs or a big heart but there’s something in him that’s different to any other horses that we’ve run.” Kitty’s Light was the moral winner of this race two years ago, when his powerful surge up the hill was stopped by a drifting opponent and Potterman, who would otherwise have finished third, ended up with the spoils.
He ran well again to be third last year, off a 5lb higher mark than his current 140, and travelled more smoothly than has sometimes been the case when fitted with cheekpieces for the first time last week.
A price of around 7-2 is a little cramped, but Kitty’s Light (2.15) has struck such a rich vein of form since Christmas that he should still be worth an interest as he bids to become only the second horse – after Hot Weld in 2007 – to complete the Ayr-Sandown double. Sandown 1.05 Arqoob has progressed steadily since switching from the Flat to hurdles this season and his jumping went up another notch on his handicap debut at Newbury last month.