Tag Archive for: McNeill Family

Three Card Brag team looking forward to chasing campaign

/in /by

Connections are keen to take the positives from Three Card Brag’s fifth-placed finish in the Albert Bartlett at the Cheltenham Festival.

Stepped up to three miles for the first time, the Gordon Elliott-trained six-year-old was sent off 4-1 second-favourite for the Grade One event on Gold Cup day.

However, despite travelling kindly throughout for Adrian Heskin and finding himself in a prime position to challenge as the protagonists rounded the home turn, Three Card Brag was unable to go on as the lung-busting scramble up the Cheltenham hill ensued and finished five and a half lengths adrift of the winner Stay Away Fay.

What might have been if the race had been run on any other day of the Festival will never be known – with drying conditions on the final day going against their charge. However, hopes are high he can return to Prestbury Park and make his mark at the big meeting in the future.

“He ran well and it was perhaps slightly frustrating he wasn’t in the first four,” said Iain Turner, racing manager for the McNeill family – who own Three Card Brag along with Patrick and Scott Bryceland.

“We were happy with Three Card and we probably couldn’t have done anything different with him.

“If there was a slight frustration it is you forget how quickly Cheltenham dries and we could have done with some of that ground they were going through on the Thursday. Some of that rain they were talking about for Thursday evening and Friday morning never really arrived.

Three Card Brag at Cheltenham
Three Card Brag at Cheltenham (Steven Paston/PA)

“He ran very well and with credit. Adrian was very happy with him over the three miles and said he felt an easier ride.

“Also promising, with the future in mind, is that he took the journey over and the travel well and then handled the track – everything which goes with a Festival race – which is all a positive for if we are to return in future seasons.”

Thoughts are already turning to next season and hopes are high Three Card Brag will rank high amongst the next cohort of novice chasers.

However, with both Aintree and Punchestown still to come, there is the possibility his novice hurdling endeavours are not fully finished, with a drop back to two and a half miles for the valuable Red Mills Irish EBF Auction Hurdle Series Final a tempting proposition during the Kildare venue’s five-day Festival next month.

“I don’t think you would be writing off going to either Punchestown or Aintree and he does have the option of dropping back in trip for the Red Mills Final which he qualified for at Galway right back at the beginning of the season,” said Turner.

“He still has the option of running in that race and there isn’t much difference in prize money between that and one of the graded races. But we will leave it up to Gordon. He came out of the race at Cheltenham fine and we’ll just see how he gets on over the next few weeks.

“If he doesn’t run again, he doesn’t owe us anything – he’s won a couple, placed in a couple of graded races then finished fifth at the Festival.

“He’s had a good season and we’re looking forward to novice chasing with him. He looks an exciting one for chasing next year, so fingers crossed he stays sound and then we’ve something to look forward to over fences.”

Big end-of-season handicaps in mind for Threeunderthufive

/in /by

Threeunderthufive will be aimed at either the Coral Scottish Grand National or bet365 Gold Cup at Sandown having been scratched from the Randox Grand National.

Although a four-time winner over the larger obstacles as a novice – including twice in Grade Two company – things have not gone as smoothly for Paul Nicholls’ charge when tackling some hot handicaps this term, unseating at the first in the Coral Gold Cup before struggling to make his presence felt in both Warwick’s Classic Chase and most recently the Ultima at the Cheltenham Festival.

Those performances have only underlined the belief of connections that a tilt at the Merseyside marathon may come a year too soon for the eight-year-old and he will skip Aintree to continue his big-field education either at Ayr on April 22 or a week later at Sandown on the final day of the season.

Threeunderthrufive with a stable hand during a visit to Manor Farm Stables
Threeunderthrufive with a stable hand during a visit to Manor Farm Stables (Adam Davy/PA)

“It was always the case we thought the National might come a season too early for him, but if he was to run well in the Ultima his mark would have gone up and he would have been well-in for a National,” explained Iain Turner, racing manager for owners the McNeill family.

“So when he didn’t (run well) and he was subsequently dropped 3lb there was no need keeping him in a Grand National.

“He will probably go for the Scottish Grand National or to Sandown for the bet365 Gold Cup.”

Reflecting on Threeunderthrufive’s eighth-placed finish in the Ultima, Turner believes the performance has been reflective of his season as a whole, with the gelding having to adapt from racing in small-field novice chases to the hurly-burly of some of the calendar’s most fiercely-competitive handicaps.

He continued: “I think for some of these novices coming out of novice chases, if you’re not going to be one of the graded ones it becomes a big leap to run in these significant double-figure field races.

“In novice chases Threeunderthrufive was able to get an easy lead with novices not wanting to go on, while in the Ultima you line him up with the intention of sitting in the first three or four and he’s taken completely off his feet. It was probably a credit to himself he’s managed to hang on and finish eighth.

“While it was disappointing and we hoped he would be competitive, I think the experience he’s had will help him be a better horse next year when he’s actually used to running in these bigger-field races and he can carry that experience with him.

“If we go to Scotland it won’t be any easier for him, but if anything, he’s going to be 3lb lower and he’s going to be learning and getting some more big-field experience.”