Thistlecrack is expected to be one of the shortest-priced favourites of the year when he makes his chasing debut at Chepstow on Tuesday. The Aspen Waite Novice Chase, worth £7,798 to the winner and featuring just five runners, is not the kind of contest that would normally attract much attention but the presence of the Gold Cup favourite will make it the centre of racing’s world for the six minutes it takes to run.
Colin Tizzard, trainer of Thistlecrack, wanted to see some rain before committing his horse to Chepstow and only 1.5mm fell on Sunday night, rather less than was expected. But much more followed on Monday and course officials were confident that Thistlecrack’s team will be satisfied with the amount of give underfoot.
“It’s raining and we’re happy,” said Keith Ottesen, Chepstow’s clerk of the course, shortly after 4pm. “It’s been fairly steady, light rain since about 3pm, amounting to about 2.5mm so far. I won’t update the going just yet because the rain is due to continue until the other side of midnight but it was ‘good’ before and it’s getting on the easy side of good now.
“I haven’t spoken to Colin and it’ll be his decision. But I don’t think it’ll end up being borderline, now that we’ve got this rain. He says he wants genuine good ground and it’ll just be a bit easier than that. Chepstow holds on to the moisture at this time of year and just gets wetter and wetter.”
“It’s more than likely he’ll run,” said Joe Tizzard, Colin’s son and assistant. “They’re due a bit of rain, it was good ground anyway and he’s ready to go. Dad and I are both going to go and we’ll walk the course first, just to make sure it’s 100%.”
Thistlecrack was offered at a best price of 1-7 by bookmakers, with his four rivals at 9-1 or bigger. The pick of them appears to be Saddlers Encore from the Philip Hobbs yard, who will also make his chasing debut. Rated 40lb below Thistlecrack over hurdles, he must take him on at level weights this time.
Meanwhile, Coneygree was a surprise inclusion in the early entries for the Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby on Saturday, connections having ruled him out of appearing on Sunday. “We’re just looking for anywhere with the possibility of good to soft ground,” said Sara Bradstock, one half of the husband-and-wife training team behind him.
Bradstock readily conceded that she is most unlikely to get her wish, as Wetherby’s going is now ‘good’, with little rain forecast, although course officials will put down 10mm this week to keep the moisture in the ground.
“It’s very frustrating,” Bradstock said. “He couldn’t be in better form but that’s tempered with, when will it rain? We need the rain!” She expects that Coneygree will reappear in the Betfair Chase at Haydock next month, ideally after having had a racecourse gallop somewhere.
Conditions for entry into the Grand National will not be changed, despite an outcry before this year’s race in April when several big-name horses were denied a place in the lineup. Course officials say that, after consideration of the available options, they are satisfied the status quo should stand. Nor will the fences themselves be altered for this season.
Interest in the Aintree race, which carries a first prize of more than £500,000, is such that dozens more horses are entered than can hope to take part. The highest-rated 40 horses at the final entry stage are allowed to run. Among those turned away this year were Pineau De Re, the National winner of 2014, as well as Highland Lodge and Bishops Road, who had both won notable trial races for the National in the previous months.
“We’re getting a full field, they all virtually declare at the final entry stage,” said John Baker, who manages Aintree for the Jockey Club. “So we don’t think anything’s broken with it.
“There’s lots of good ideas out there, I appreciate that, and you’d always ideally like the Becher Chase winner to get in and the Haydock Trial winner to get in. Unfortunately, they didn’t last time but our whole drive about the race is about quality and we just think we’re getting the quality, we’re getting the interest, it’s not like we’re scrambling around for runners. We think the race is in such a good place, why try to come up with something else when it’s working so well?”
The Grand National took place this year without any equine fatalities, as has been the case since the fences were significantly softened after the 2012 running. However, four horses died in races over the National course in the two preceding days this April, including two who suffered fatal falls at Becher’s Brook on the day before the showpiece race.
A spokesman for the British Horseracing Authority said it had worked with Aintree to consider the fatalities but concluded that “no specific risk factors which linked those incidents were identified”.
