There were threats of legal action and enough swearing for an entire brigade of troopers at Plumpton earlier this month when the racecourse vet ordered that Coneygree should be withdrawn before the start of a novice chase due to “signs of lameness”. Sara Bradstock, the wife of Coneygree’s trainer, Mark, was responsible for the bulk of the cursing, but there were happier scenes here on Friday after the same horse picked up the £17,000 first prize in the day’s feature race, the Grade Two Berkshire Novice Chase.
This is a race that has been won by some outstanding novice chasers in the past, above all in 2011, when Bobs Worth, a future Gold Cup winner, short-headed Cue Card, a dual Grade One winner over fences last season. It was not under consideration for Coneygree, however, until Plan A – a minor race at Plumpton in which victory would have qualified the seven-year-old for a £60,000 bonus if successful at Cheltenham in March – succumbed to its last-minute hitch.
The circumstances surrounding Coneygree’s withdrawal still clearly rankle with the pair. “I hope that something comes of it, [that the] procedure to look at horses down at the start should change,” Mark Bradstock told Racing UK on Friday, but, at least after nearly two years off the track, Coneygree looks like another fine prospect from a small yard with an excellent record for producing good chasers.
“He’s a very tricky character and he was ready for a run [at Plumpton]”, Sara Bradstock said. “I got very cross with the people [there] when they were saying it doesn’t matter. What happens now if by some miracle he wins a race at Cheltenham? Then we will have to sue them, won’t we?
“He hasn’t had two years off because there was a great disaster. There was a possible stress fracture which kept him out of Cheltenham two years ago, but he is a bit crazy and leapt in the air on the Ridgeway and managed to land on a flint that cut through a tiny edge of a tendon on his back leg. That was just over a year ago.
“It’s an eternal frustration to us that again and again, we buy these little cheap horses, prove that we can beat the big guys, and we’ve still only got 12 horses. Of course it matters like hell, that’s why there were so many expletives [the other] week.”
Coneygree’s task was eased midway through the race when the favourite Saphir Du Rheu unseated Sam Twiston-Davies having already been less than foot-perfect at several obstacles. There was much to admire about the way Coneygree found more when the useful former handicap hurdler Dell’ Arca challenged two out, though, and a step up to three miles seems sure to bring further improvement. He is currently a 25-1 chance for the RSA Chase at Cheltenham in March, a price that may appeal to Plumpton executives seeking insurance against any future legal action.
Saphir Du Rheu’s departure was an unexpected setback for Paul Nicholls, who has won the major race on Saturday for the last two weekends and will hope to make it three when he saddles two runners in Saturday’s Hennessy Gold Cup. He will also become the first National Hunt trainer to win 100 Grade One races if Irving takes the Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Newcastle.
“Both of ours [Rocky Creek and Unioniste] will love the ground,” Nicholls said. “Rocky Creek had a run in Ireland the other day, and like Silviniaco Conti [last Saturday’s Betfair Chase winner] who ran the same day, hopefully he’ll improve like him. He’s 5lb higher than last year [when he finished second to Triolo D’Alene] but he’s in really good order and I’m very happy with him.”
Nicholls completed a double in the first two races on Friday with the juvenile Old Guard, who ground out victory in a contest won last year by Calipto, who went on to finish fourth when favourite for the Triumph Hurdle at Cheltenham. Old Guard is top-priced at 33-1 for the same race at the Festival.
“We almost pulled him out last night because it’s a tough day to make a debut over jumps when you’ve only run on good ground in the past,” Nicholls said. “But you don’t know with a horse like this until you run. He jumped over eight hurdles with Irving yesterday morning. He was a bit keen when we first had him, but the last few weeks he’s just started to turn into a jumps horse rather than a Flat horse. I haven’t made any plans for him, but we’ll probably run him somewhere over Christmas. This was just a start today.”
Willie Mullins enjoys such dominance in Irish racing that his position as champion trainer is all but unassailable, but his stable suffered a second setback in as many days on Friday when Annie Power, whose only career defeat came in last year’s World Hurdle when she finished second behind More Of That, was ruled out of Sunday’s Hatton’s Grace Hurdle at Fairyhouse due to lameness. The news follows the fall of Un De Sceaux, a leading contender for major novice chases in the spring, when 1-8 favourite for his fencing debut at Thurles on Thursday.
Annie Power was declared for the Grade One contest on Friday morning, but was found to be stiff and lame shortly afterwards. Zaidpour will now be the yard’s only representative in the race.
“These things happen, unfortunately,” Patrick Mullins, the trainer’s son and assistant, said on Friday. “I don’t think it’s serious, we hope not anyway.”
“Zaidpour is a good substitute to have in any case. He’s won the race before and has won the Royal Bond at this meeting so he obviously goes well at the track and at this time of the year.”
.jpg?w=600)
