Cheltenham’s Trials day card on Saturday lost a significant name this morning with the news that Coneygree, the 2015 Gold Cup winner, has been ruled out of the Cotswold Chase, in which he was due to run for the first time since undergoing wind surgery following a disappointing run in the Ladbrokes Trophy Handicap at Newbury in early December.
Coneygree was reported to be on course for Saturday’s race earlier in the week, and had been quoted at around 8-1 to record his first win since November 2015. The testing ground at Cheltenham, though, means that he will now be an absentee.
“We’ve decided we’re not going to run on Saturday,” Sara Bradstock, the assistant trainer at her husband Mark’s stable, said on Friday morning. “It was always going to be tight after the wind op and especially with the way the ground is, so we’ve decided we’ll wait for Newbury [the Denman Chase on 10 February].
“Newbury is only two weeks away, so we don’t have long to wait. We just don’t want to rush him back and run on horrible ground.”
Doncaster’s two-day Sky Bet meeting gets under way today with a competitive and interesting card, including a second run over fences for Malcolm Jefferson’s Mount Mews (1.55).
The seven-year-old was a useful hurdler but has always seemed likely to come into his own over the bigger obstacles, and could hardly have been more impressive on his successful chasing debut at Friday’s track a fortnight ago. He has been found another good opening for his second start this afternoon and it will be disappointing if he fails to progress as expected.
Perfect Harmony (1.25) finished in mid-division in the Champion Bumper at Cheltenham in March and while he has yet to win in two starts over hurdles this season, a repeat of his form at Ascot last time out would probably be good enough to get him off the mark on Friday.
Muthabir (4.10) put up a career-best performance to win in a decent time at Kempton Park in November and is a fair price at around 12-1 to follow up on Friday, while Ar Mest (1.35) ran with promise behind If The Cap Fits on his hurdling debut at Kempton on Boxing Day and could show the benefit of the experience this afternoon. Tigerfish (2.20) should go well on the Flat card at Lingfield, while Wiff Waff (7.45) has progressed rapidly on his past two starts and should be up to completing a hat-trick at Kempton Park on Friday evening.
Lingfield Park 12.10 Ocean Side 12.40 Zapateado 1.15 Age Of Wisdom 1.45 Ambient 2.20 Tigerfish 2.55 Living Leader 3.30 Burauq 4.00 Attain
Doncaster 12.50 Blakerigg 1.25 Perfect Harmony (nap) 1.55 Mount Mews 2.30 Nube Negra 3.05 Captain Mowbray 3.40 Does It In Style 4.10 Muthabir (nb)
Huntingdon 1.00 Maestro Royal 1.35 Ar Mest 2.05 The Flame 2.40 Masterplan 3.15 Easter Day 3.50 Early Retirement 4.20 Myboysam
Kempton Park 5.45 Popsilca 6.15 Rakematiz 6.45 Relevant 7.15 Sotomayor 7.45 Wiff Waff 8.15 First Contact 8.45 Blazed 9.15 Bezos
– Tips by Greg Wood.
