Tag Archive for: Gold Cup Bailly

Dorking could deliver Festival victory for Crawford

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Stuart Crawford is set to have a small but select squad for the Cheltenham Festival and has highlighted Dorking Cock in the St. James’s Place Festival Challenge Cup Open Hunters’ Chase as his best chance of a winner.

The nine-year-old won four times when trained in the UK by Tom Lacey and has added another two strikes since switching to the County Antrim-based handler.

However, it was his performance at Down Royal when hunted down late by David Christie’s Vaucelet that is giving Crawford plenty of cause for optimism.

Only a neck separated the duo at the winning post in the St Stephen’s Day feature, but whereas Vaucelet is the general 2-1 favourite for the amateur jockeys’ contest, Dorking Cock is a best price of 14-1 to turn the tables at Prestbury Park.

“Realistically our best chance would be Dorking Cork in the Foxhunters,” said Crawford.

“I think Vaucelet is a very good horse and he’s as good a young hunter as there is around and I would think there is plenty more improvement to come from him.

“Certainly that day at Down Royal, when the two horses hit the line they went a good bit further before they pulled up. So it would definitely be interesting to take him on again.

“We will definitely be looking forward to him. The horse has been lightly raced and was bought with the race in mind. He has just had a few niggly issues last season and we didn’t get running him where we wanted, but hopefully this year it will all go according to plan.”

Gold Cup Bailly gathered a growing reputation when winning his first three chasing appearances, but had to settle for second behind Thomas Darby at Ayr in his most recent start.

Gold Cup Bailly looks an exciting prospect for Stuart Crawford
Gold Cup Bailly looks an exciting prospect for Stuart Crawford (PA)

The seven-year-old holds an entry for the National Hunt Chase, but a lack of rain could see both him and Close Brothers Mares’ Hurdle outsider Ailie Rose skip the Festival.

Crawford continued: “Gold Cup Bailly is in the National Hunt Chase, but he also has a couple of other options and I don’t know whether the ground will be slow enough for him. He probably wants a bit more dig in the ground, so it’ll probably depend on the weather between now and then.

“I’ve a little mare in the mares’ hurdle but she probably wants it a bit slower as well, so she’s another we’ll have to gauge closer to the time.”

Crawford considering multiple options for Gold Cup Bailly

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Stuart Crawford is relishing the prospect of getting Gold Cup Bailly back in action – but is still mulling his options for the talented chaser.

The seven-year-old is unbeaten since switching to fences this season and holds a pair of entries for Cheltenham this weekend in the Timeform Novices’ Handicap Chase and Paddy Power Cheltenham Countdown Podcast Handicap Chase, while he is also entered for a Grade Three assignment at Naas on Sunday in the Finlay Ford At Naas Novice Chase.

Crawford is favouring the open handicap worth £100,000 out of his two Cheltenham options, but with conditions at Prestbury Park potentially proving testing on Festival Trials Day, he could be tempted to hang fire an extra seven days and reroute the son of Turgeon to the William Hill Towton Novices’ Chase at Wetherby on February 4.

“The horse is in good form and I’m keen to go somewhere soon,” said Crawford.

“If we don’t go this weekend, another option is Wetherby for the Towton Novices’ Chase next weekend. I’m pretty sure if you don’t see him out this weekend, you will see him out the following week – I think he’s in great form and I’m looking forward to running him again.

“At Cheltenham, the premier handicap looks pretty appetising over the novice one. I wouldn’t be opposed a tilt at that, but nothing is set in stone at the minute and the ground at Cheltenham is a bit of a concern.

“It should be on all right you would imagine, but it could end up being quite tacky ground and I would say whatever goes there this weekend could be getting a hard race.”

Gold Cup Bailly holds an entry in the National Hunt Chase at the Cheltenham Festival, but Crawford is in no rush to label his charge with a target and is simply keen to see how long he can can keep his winning thread going.

He added: “We are in a lucky position with him where he has plenty of options and no real big plans, we’re just keen to get him out somewhere.

“If we can keep on winning with him in the short term, that is what we’re going to try to do with him and if any horse does that, sooner or later they will be taking you to the bigger race and the bigger day.”

The County Antrim-based handler is also keen to take the slow road to the top with O’Toole, who made an impressive chasing debut at Newcastle earlier this month.

O'Toole returned to action with a win
O’Toole returned to action with a win (Nick Robson/PA)

Although holding a Grade One entry for the Dublin Racing Festival, he is likely to continue swimming in calmer waters at Ayr next week.

“I was very pleased with him at Newcastle because it wasn’t easy,” continued Crawford.

“Starting a first timer up against seasoned handicappers is a big ask and to be honest he didn’t put a foot wrong.

“I would say the ground was really hard work that day and he doesn’t need it as testing as that, but he can handle it.

“We’ll try to find something similar to go again with him and try to bank up a wee bit more experience.

“I think eventually the further the better, but at this stage he doesn’t need three miles and two and a half will be fine.

“There’s a novices’ handicap up at Ayr I could run him in. I like going to Ayr, it’s a nice, big, fair track and good fences. Horses normally get a good education there and it’s definitely somewhere we will have a look at.”

Crawford mulling the options for Gold Cup Bailly

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Stuart Crawford feels Gold Cup Bailly is “definitely one to look forward to” as he plots the next move with his unbeaten chaser.

The County Antrim-based handler is well supported by owners Simon Munir and Isaac Souede and has amassed plenty of ammunition in their famous ‘double green’ silks that have been a regular sight on raiding missions to the UK.

One of those at Crawford’s disposal is Gold Cup Bailly, a seven-year-old who secured a second Ayr victory on January 2, making a successful step up to three miles in the process.

“At this stage you would be hoping he can go a good while yet before he reaches his ceiling,” said Crawford.

“He’s still inexperienced, but he’s been foot-perfect with his jumping in his last couple of runs and I thought it was a good experience for him going up against seasoned handicappers the last day when he was obviously giving them weight as well.

“I know it was a small field, but it wasn’t a bad race for the grade of it and he’s come through that task well.

“He’s probably going to be forced to bite off a bit more the next day and he’ll be up into a better race again. He is definitely one to look forward to.”

Options remain open for the son of Turgeon’s next outing, with opportunities closer to home entering the equation as well as the Timeform Novices’ Handicap Chase on Cheltenham Trials Day later this month.

He continued: “Back in Ireland there will probably be a Grade Two or Grade Three novice we can look at or at Cheltenham at the end of January, the novices’ handicap there might be suitable.”

Crawford’s Newlands Farm base has become a real nursery for talent and soon to step out over hurdles for the first time is Lily Du Berlais, who beat a useful cast in a Grade Two bumper at the Dublin Racing Festival last year.

She is set to be aggressively campaigned with the intention of running in the top mares’ novice races in the spring, with the experience she has already banked standing her in good stead for the next stage of her career.

Lily Du Berlais (green) on her way to winning at the Dublin Racing Festival
Lily Du Berlais (green) on her way to winning at the Dublin Racing Festival (Niall Carson/PA)

“I would love to say I will keep her in her stable and keep her unbeaten, but we’ve already got her beat so I’m going to have to keep running her now,” said Crawford.

“I would imagine in the next couple of weeks we’ll be looking to get her started off in a maiden hurdle, then after that I imagine we would be pretty ambitious with her and give her a run or two in better company.

“She’s an exciting mare, there’s no two ways about it. She has a fair bit of experience under her belt as she was destined originally to start off point-to-pointing. So she’s had all that work done as a younger horse and we hope she won’t be too green the first day she runs over hurdles.

“You’ve got a very valuable race at Fairyhouse in the spring and that might be a suitable target for her further down the line, but hopefully we will be in the position where any of those better races, we’ll be fit to go to them anyway.”