Tony McCoy’s hopes of adding a first victory in the World Hurdle at Cheltenham to his long list of big-race wins suffered a significant blow on Wednesday when More Of That, who won the World Hurdle last year with Barry Geraghty in the saddle, was described as “an unlikely runner” in the same race at the Festival meeting next month after breaking a blood vessel during a routine gallop.
More Of That was a disappointing odds-on favourite in his only race since last year’s World Hurdle when he could finish only third of six runners in the Long Distance Hurdle at Newbury back in November. That was his first defeat in six career starts, however, and he remained a narrow ante-post favourite to repeat his win in Cheltenham’s championship event for staying hurdlers before news of his setback emerged on Wednesday.
“As part of his build-up to Cheltenham, More Of That galloped at Compton this morning with AP [McCoy] in the saddle and pleased everyone with his work,” Jonjo O’Neill, More Of That’s trainer, told the Racing Post on Wednesday.
“But when he returned to the yard he was found to have bled and as things stand I would have to say that he is now an unlikely runner at Cheltenham as time is not on our side.”
McCoy chose to partner At Fishers Cross, who is also owned by his main employer JP McManus, in last year’s World Hurdle but could finish only third as More Of That beat Annie Power by one-and-a-half lengths.
At Fishers Cross could again be a mount for McCoy in this year’s World Hurdle, but Rebecca Curtis’s eight-year-old has not won since April 2013 and finished only fourth of eight runners when favourite for a Grade One event at Leopardstown’s Christmas meeting.
He was a 25-1 chance for the World Hurdle on Wednesday morning.
Epsom racecourse said on Wednesday that it will run both the Derby and the Oaks at the later off-time of 4.30pm this season, a move which Channel 4 Racing hopes may boost the flagging TV ratings for the two Classics since their switch from the BBC to Channel 4 in 2013.
Both the Derby and the Oaks, which will be run on 6 and 5 June respectively, had an off-time of 4pm last season, when the peak TV audience for the Derby, one of the world’s most historic and prestigious Flat races, dropped by 20% from 1.95m to 1.55m. Its audience share also dropped significantly, from 21.8% to 14.7%, while the average audience for Channel 4’s broadcast from Epsom was also down, from 834,000 to 770,000. In 2012, the last year in which the Derby was broadcast on the BBC, it attracted a peak audience of 3.3m.
Last year’s Derby was staged a few days before the start of the World Cup in Brazil on 12 June, but this season it must compete for attention and media coverage with the Champions League Final, which is due to kick off in Berlin at 7.45pm. Both the Derby and Oaks will still be run as the fifth races on seven-race cards, but the off-time for the first race on both days will be 25 minutes later at 2pm.
“We have consulted all stakeholders in this process and consider this change will embellish our customers’ experience of the [Derby] Festival and the greatest Flat race in the world,” Rupert Trevelyan, the regional director London for Jockey Club Racecourses, said .
“We believe that from an attendance perspective, in particular for our sponsor and hospitality guests, this adjustment to our timings will enhance the overall enjoyment of their day. At this stage, this is the extent of our changes to race times but we will review following the 2015 Investec Derby Festival. We are grateful to our colleagues at Channel 4 for accommodating our request.”
Ed Havard, Channel 4’s Head of TV Events and Sport, said that the broadcaster was pleased by the move. “We welcome the later start time for the Investec Oaks and Investec Derby,” Havard said, “which will enable these Blue Riband events to be accessible to the widest afternoon audience possible.”
The 2014 Derby attracted 34,000 paying spectators in the main grandstands at Epsom, but about 100,000 more paid little or nothing to watch the race from public land in the middle and around the outside of the course, making the Derby the best-attended single day of sport in Britain, just ahead of the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
Shutthefrontdoor, a possible ride for McCoy in his final Grand National later in the season, was among the horses withdrawn from the Cheltenham Gold Cup at the latest declaration stage earlier this week to be prepared for the Aintree marathon on 11 April.
Jonjo O’Neill’s gelding won the Irish Grand National at Fairyhouse last season and had been as short as 16-1 for the Gold Cup after taking a graduation chase at Carlisle on his only start of the current season.
“He’s fine [but] we just felt it would be a lot to ask to run in the Gold Cup without have had a run [since November],” Frank Berry, racing manager to Shutthefrontdoor’s owner JP McManus, said on Wednesday.
“He’s 100 per cent and hopefully he’ll have a run somewhere and if all goes well we’ll look towards the National.”
McCoy’s run of winners since his announcement last Saturday that he will retire by the end of the current season continued on Wednesday, when he took the opening race at Chepstow aboard the 8-11 favourite Sebastian Beach. The 19-times champion has four booked rides on a valuable card at Kelso on Thursday as he attempts to extend his streak to seven days with at least one winners, including Holywell, the winner of the Grade One Mildmay Novice Chase at Liverpool last April and top-priced at 14-1 for next month’s Gold Cup.
