Have just included the leading rated horses in the table below.

Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup Chase      Newbury Saturday 27 November 2004
Horse	Rtg	Time	Comment
Celestial Gold	175	170	Winner of the Paddy Power Gold Cup. Has it recovered? In theory step up to this trip should suit. Lack of rain means that ground will not be a problem.
Ollie Magern	175	168	Improving novice. Definitely had a hard race at Cheltenham where it helped to set a furious gallop. Wil need to be ridden with more restraint here. Chance amy depend if on whether it is taken on.
Nil Desperandum	174	174	Promising Grade 1 winning novice chaser last autumn. Got injured and was not as good when coming back. Has ben steadily backed this week.
Lord Transcend	170+	160	Definitely the dark horse of the race. Appears best with some give in the ground, though connections not concerned. If it has progressed since only chase outing could feasibly win this. Though Graham Lee not choosing to ride is a negative.
Gunther McBride	164	164	Fully exposed chaser. Runs best when positively ridden. Ideally wants fast ground.
Royal Auclair	163	163	Fully exposed. Won a moderately run Badger Beer beating Gunther McBride. Had a wind op in the summer no evidence that it will actually improve on what it has done thus far.
Swansea Bay	162	162	In cracking form during the early part of last season, on fast ground. Which includes Badger Beer win at Wincanton. Does not appear the same horse with some juice in the ground. Conditions at Newbury could be quicker than advertised therefore might not be a problem.
First Gold	161	161	Formerly top class chaser. Still has a turn of foot to win weakly contested races. Has it all to do here.
Puntal	160	160	Winner of the AttheracesGoldCup from Royal Auclair at Sandown in April. On my figures it was a slowly run affair on fast ground. Which meant that the genuine stayers in the race such as Royal Supreme did not have a chance. Will need to improve.
Artic Jack	160	160	Reputation rests on defeat of a below par (and possibly over-rated now) Kingscliff at Haydock last season. Has it all to do.
Midland Flame	159	159	Not reliable but has performed well here at Newbury on fast ground.
Supreme Glory	158	158	Second in the National in 2003. May have won had there been some give. Has been off with a leg injury since. Ground may be too lively but is being trained for the National anyway.
Lord Of The River	158	158	Did well to recapture some form last season. Not likely to be improving at 12. This looks a tall order.
Frenchman's Creek	157	157	Winner of the major staying handicap chase at the Cheltenham festival in 2002. Was on an upward curve then but has been out with injury. Would be in with a shout on that form but hard to imagine.

Will put a review of the race and ratings here in due course

Hennessy Result

Ratings are those for the race and also those expected for the next time in brackets.

1. Celestial Gold 156 (162+) Held up in rear, gradually moved closer, challenged last, soon lead, stayed on well.
2. Ollie Magern158 (162) Disputed lead (pulled) from the start, lead 3out till headed after last, stayed on no extra finish,
3. Royal Auclair 161 (163) Settled in midfield, moved closer to the pace before five out, challenged from 3out, no extra flat.
4. Lord Transcend 145 (155) Disputed lead, lead from 5out, headed 3out, stayed on one pace
5. Gunter McBride 131 (136) Chased leaders early, kept on at one pace from 3out
6. Puntal 141 (145) Chased leaders, kept on at one pace from 3out
7. Lord of The River 129 (132) Chased leaders, gradually faded from 5out
8. Swansea Bay 118 (138) Never in contention
9. First Gold 135 (159) Never in contention.
10. Artic Jack 112 (137) Chased Leaders, weakened 5out
11. Midland Flame 104 (131) Disputed lead early, weakened from 4out
12. Supreme Glory 99 (140 National) First run back after long layoff, never threatened. The National is still the target

    Pulled up: Frenchmans Creek never in contention and Nil Desperandum Never going

A four horse race before three out. Lord Transcend was the first to crack but ran a fine race for an inexperienced horse, also making its seasonal debut. A decent prize looks there for the taking if placed well. Slower ground would not hurt. Comimg to the last there were three in it. Celestial Gold given a great confident waiting ride by Timmy Murphy looked the most likely to prevail then. So it it proved as it quickly took up the running after the last. Stayed on well to the line. Handicapper has reacted by putting it to 150. If improvement continues has every chance of picking up another decent prize. Would need to improve much further to win the Gold Cup possibly by 20lb. Still a question mark in my mind as to whether it would be as effective if the ground came up soft.

Ollie Magern was still too keen early on. It is remarkable that it ran as well as it did. If it could be taught to settle it would have to be considered a Gold Cup horse for next season. In danger of being over raced this season. Not a fan of the Feltham for Sun Alliance horses.

Royal Auclair has had a wind operation. It may be only seven but has a fair number of miles on the clock. This performance must reflect on the quality of the ride it got from Ruby Walsh and the care and attention it gets from the Paul Nicholls team. Not likely to improve as much again as the first two home. The difficult job now is to place to win again this season.

Of the others, two for the future are; Midland Flame. Who ran well before tiring on a course it enjoys. Was out of the handicap here, can surely be placed to pick up a decent prize or two this season when the ground is riding fast. Also Supreme Glory never in contention here though not a bad effort for a horse whose target is the National. In which it was second in 2002. Sure to be brought along steadily for the big race as it was that season. Ideally it would prefer give in the ground.