Tony McCoy, who has not ridden in public since 5 November, said on Thursday that he hopes to return to the saddle next Wednesday at either Fontwell or Wetherby, and in time to partner More Of That when Jonjo O’Neill’s World Hurdle winner makes his seasonal debut in the Bet365 Long Distance Hurdle on Hennessy day at Newbury on 29 November.
McCoy had just ridden his 150th winner of the season on 15 October and was quoted at around 4-1 to reach the unprecedented total of 300 winners in a season when he missed 10 days of the campaign due to the effects of a fall at Worcester the previous week. He returned to action from 25 October to 5 November but partnered just two winners from 30 rides in that time before announcing that he would take “a fortnight off” to regain full fitness.
McCoy’s pursuit of 300 winners in a season now looks forlorn and the aftereffects of the fall continue but a return in time to ride More Of That at Newbury was a more realistic target for the 19-times champion jockey and one that he now seems confident he will achieve.
“I’m probably going to be back riding on Wednesday or Thursday, depending on what I’ve got to ride,” McCoy told the Racing Post yesterday. “I wanted to be back for More Of That at Newbury. He’s a World Hurdle winner and one of the highest-rated jumpers in training. He is the reason I’ve ended up taking as long to come back as I have and I’ll hopefully now be OK for the rest of the season.”
Home Farm, who finished third in the 2013 Irish Grand National when trained by Arthur Moore, took the Listed John Meagher Memorial Chase at Thurles on Thursday after Hidden Cyclone, his main rival, came down at the final fence when still in with a live chance.
The seven-year-old was making his first start for new trainer Henry de Bromhead, and was eased down to finish six lengths clear of Foildubh after the dramatic departure of Hidden Cyclone. He is quoted at around 33-1 for the Grand National at Aintree next April.
“He had a wind op at the end of last season and that’s made a huge difference to him,” De Bromhead said. “We were fairly wrong at the ratings with Hidden Cyclone but this was just to get our lad started and see where we were with him.
“You’d imagine he’d be an ideal candidate for the Grand National. The better the ground, the better he is. With goodish ground, he’d love it round there.”
A filly from the first crop of the brilliant Frankel set a record price for a foal sold at public auction in Ireland on Thursday when she made €1.8m (£1.4m) at Goffs’ November Sale.
The filly, out of the 2007 English and Irish 1,000 Guineas winner Finsceal Beo, was consigned by Al-Eile Stud in County Waterford and sold to Dermot Farrington Bloodstock on behalf of “a new Irish client”. She is the fifth foal out of her dam and a half-sister to Aidan O’Brien’s Ol’ Man River, a leading ante-post contender for next season’s Classics.
Leading Light, the O’Brien-trained winner of the St Leger in 2013 and the Gold Cup at Ascot in June, has been retired to join the roster of National Hunt stallions at Coolmore Stud. In all, the son of Montjeu won eight of his 12 starts but suffered an injury in an incident involving Forgotten Rules, the eventual winner, when only seventh of nine runners on his final start, in the Long Distance Cup on Champions Day at Ascot last month.
