Recent history, both this week and in recent years, suits the chances of Galopin Des Champs in Friday’s Grade 1 Cheltenham Gold Cup at Cheltenham Racecourse in Britain.

The $799,900 Gold Cup, run at 3 5/16 miles over 22 fences, is the leading weight-for-age race in jump racing, and compares well to the Breeders’ Cup Classic in terms of prestige.

Galopin Des Champs, an 8-year-old gelding trained in Ireland by Willie Mullins, won the 2023 Gold Cup, and has won his two starts since Christmas in a manner that suggests he is capable of a dominant performance on Friday.

Through a career that has been built largely on the success of his turf division, Chad Brown has not had the Kentucky Derby as a top priority. However, now into his 17th year of training horses, Brown admits the Derby is a race that has become more top of mind.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – While the temptation to run a horse in a stakes is understandable after she has won her last two starts by a combined 18 1/2 lengths, trainer Terri Pompay has opted to take a more conservative route with her promising filly Khozall.

Pompay is bypassing this Sunday’s $100,000 Any Limit Stakes with Khozall for Friday’s theoretically easier main event, also for 3-year-old fillies. The race will be decided under allowance and optional claiming conditions for a $91,000 purse.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Although pacesetters have won less than 30 percent of all races this season at Santa Anita, horseplayers generally consider speed a useful attribute. A handful of front-runners will tempt bettors on a quiet Friday program.

A front-running maiden stretching out another furlong, a second-start maiden who produced high speed in his runner-up debut, and a one-turn sprinter trying to stay a two-turn mile rank as top contenders Friday.

Domestic Product

Colt by Practical Joke – Goods and Services, by Paynter

Bred in Kentucky by Klaravich Stables

Derby Watch member Domestic Product took another step forward for owner-breeder Klaravich Stables and trainer Chad Brown last weekend, winning the Grade 3 Tampa Bay Derby. The colt is continuing big things for a lauded sireline.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Twenty to Park is gearing up for next month’s $150,000 Rainbow Stakes at Oaklawn Park with an appearance in the ninth race on Friday.

He’s a chief contender in the entry-level allowance for 3-year-olds and up bred in Arkansas. The field of 10 for the six-furlong race includes Midnight Taxes, a 4-year-old half-brother to multiple Grade 2 winner Amalfi Coast.

WHO’S HOT

Derby Watch prices for top-ranked Sierra Leone and second-ranked Timberlake ticked lower following a key defection and a low-rated prep. Linemaker David Aragona dropped Sierra Leone to 6-1, Timberlake to 8-1.

Approximately 600 players will vie for an $800,000 top prize at this year’s National Horseplayers Championship, which begins Friday at the Horseshoe Las Vegas.

Held annually for the past 24 years, the National Horseplayers Championship offers more prize money than any handicapping tournament in the world. In addition to the grand prize money of $800,000, the winner receives an Eclipse Award as Horseplayer of the Year. A total of $4.5 million in cash and prizes will be awarded.

Though Spiked may have had more success in races run around two turns, her races at a one-turn mile have produced two of her three top Beyer Speed Figures.

After returning from a 10-month layoff to finish a respectable third in the Heavenly Prize Stakes going a mile on Feb. 10 at Aqueduct, Spiked drops into a second-level allowance going a mile in what serves as the feature on Aqueduct’s eight-race card.