With an impromptu rendition of ‘Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life’ in the winner’s enclosure here, Nigel Twiston-Davies began to shake off the trauma of losing the Caspian Caviar Gold Cup a full day ahead of the race. About six hours earlier, a phone call gone wrong between him and his secretary resulted in Riders Onthe Storm being mistakenly withdrawn from Saturday’s big betting race, for which he had been the clear favourite at odds of 4-1.
The trainer had been watching horses go up his famously steep gallops near the picturesque Cotswold village of Naunton when he decided to call his office a quarter-mile away and ask them to take Rocco out of a race at Bangor on Friday afternoon, the horse having got an infection. “But it was windy,” he recalled. His secretary somehow thought he was talking about Riders Onthe Storm.
Twiston-Davies, soon alerted to the disastrous mistake, tried to talk the British Horseracing Authority into letting his horse back among the entries. “They said there’s nothing they can do. There should be a bit more flexibility when there’s people’s stakes … Mistakes shouldn’t happen but it did happen. It was bloody windy.”
News of non-runners is disseminated so quickly, to the media and to connections of other runners, that there was never any hope of this mistake being walked back. The BHA shared a screengrab showing part of the process by which Riders Onthe Storm was taken out, which clearly shows the words: “Once a horse has been declared a non-runner, you may not reinstate it.” If further failsafes are needed in the process, they should probably be between Twiston-Davies and his secretary, rather than between trainers’ staff and the BHA. “I’m very sorry for anyone who’s lost money on him,” Twiston-Davies added.
His secretary was said to be “in floods of tears” but Carl Hinchy and Mark Scott, who own Riders Onthe Storm, evidently took the setback philosophically, not least because there is apparently a £50,000 graduation race at Ascot next weekend which the horse can tackle instead.
Twiston-Davies was beginning to cheer up by mid-afternoon, Cogry having won him the BetVictor Handicap Chase by sticking his nose down at just the right moment to beat Rock The Kasbah. “That makes up for a shitty day so far,” was the trainer’s typically forthright summation.
He is hardly the first to find himself in such a situation. Dandy Nicholls failed to enter any horses for the 2006 Ayr Gold Cup, for which he had 26 potential runners, while connections of Coneygree “pushed the wrong button” when trying to enter him for the 2015 King George.
“These things happen,” sighed Twiston-Davies, but he soon reflected that all he had lost was, at most, a 20% chance of victory. “I didn’t fancy him as much as everyone else because the Venetia Williams horse that was second to us last time was massively better off at the weights. We’ve been absolutely clobbered by the handicapper.” He readily agreed that the outcome could be a blessing in disguise, albeit a pretty heavy one.
In any case, Cogry is a horse to be thankful for, when all else is going wrong. As the winning jockey, Sam Twiston-Davies, put it: “He’s incredibly tough. When you wanna become a jockey, it’s because you’ve been watching horses like him go round. He put in some massive leaps and tried incredibly hard. This is one we’ll really enjoy.”
Nicky Henderson was having a more straightforwardly enjoyable day, having trained Chantry House and Pym to win the first two races. Chantry House is now prominent in betting on the Supreme Novice Hurdle in March. Pym, rather more workmanlike, has no fancy entries but his owners are doing well enough with the only other horse they have in training, Altior.
Henderson had news of Altior, who will do an important piece of work at Seven Barrows on Saturday morning. The trainer will then consult with his owners, currently unreachable on holiday, as to his next race. If the horse shows he has fully recovered from his recent Ascot defeat by Cyrname, he could yet line up in the King George on Boxing Day, but missing that in favour of a return to two miles next month is still a strong possibility.
Bangor 11.50 Little Stevie 12.25 Goodgirlteresa 1.00 King Uther 1.35 Simon The Great 2.10 Doc Penfro 2.45 Cheddleton 3.20 Chuvelo
Doncaster 12.00 Well Smitten 12.35 Another Tuco 1.10 Knight In Dubai 1.45 Saint Leo 2.20 Purcell’s Bridge 2.55 Talktomenow 3.30 Versifier
Cheltenham 12.10 Chantry House 12.45 Stoney Mountain 1.20 Peter The Mayo Man 1.55 Zara Hope 2.30 West Approach (nap) 3.05 Easysland 3.40 Regarding Ruth (nb)
Chelmsford 4.00 Notforalongtime 4.30 Hypothetical 5.00 J’Ouvert 5.30 Creationist 6.00 Fighting Temeraire 6.30 Pike Corner Cross 7.00 Sugar Plum Fairy 7.30 Grisons
Doncaster 11.50 Pagero 12.25 Blakeney Point 1.00 Pain Au Chocolat 1.35 Curramore 2.10 Windsor Avenue 2.45 Lord Lamington 3.20 Cloth Cap
Hereford 12.00 One Style 12.35 Funambule Sivola 1.10 Heavenly Promise 1.45 First Flow 2.20 Air Horse One 2.55 Master Tradesman 3.30 The Furrows End
Cheltenham 12.10 Langer Dan 12.45 Good Boy Bobby 1.20 Croco Bay 1.55 Keeper Hill (nb) 2.30 Valtor 3.05 Pentland Hills 3.40 Lust For Glory (nap)
Newcastle 12.15 Ezzrah 12.50 Funny Kid 1.25 Finespun 2.00 Lady Shanawell 2.35 Dublin Pharaoh 3.10 Caballero 3.45 Qaaraat
Wolverhampton 4.50 Dress Circle 5.20 Monya 5.50 Merricourt 6.20 Phoenix Star 6.50 Desert Doctor 7.20 Mojambo 7.50 Sea Fox 8.20 Lord Howard
