Emma Lavelle believes a quicker pace in the Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle is vital if Paisley Park is to reclaim the title.
Winner of the race back in 2019, he has finished third behind Gavin Cromwell’s Flooring Porter for the last two years.
Despite being 11, he showed he is still a force to be reckoned with when winning the rearranged Long Walk Hurdle at Kempton, but he was almost 10 lengths behind French raider Gold Tweet in the Cleeve Hurdle last time out.
“Paisley Park has come out of the Cleeve Hurdle well and seems in good order,” said Lavelle.
“He has had an easy time of it since, but we will start to build him back up for the Stayers’ Hurdle this week and roll into Cheltenham.
“I only feel he needs to step back up a little bit and if he does, then he won’t be far away in the Stayers’ Hurdle. They just didn’t go quick enough in the Cleeve.
“He hasn’t suddenly sprouted wings, the only reason he was in that position (handy) is that they hadn’t gone quick enough for him and then the quickening happened too late.
“When that happens he can’t then hit his flat spot and stay on while the others are coming back to him, which is what happened in the Cleeve.”
Lavelle also feels the form of her yard at the time may have played its part.
“Our horses, until recently, haven’t been running great and we have had a number of them coughing and a few with snotty noses,” she said.
“I know he won a Grade One through all of that at Kempton Park over Christmas, but why wouldn’t he have something on him when everything else in the yard appears to have had it.
“He has been great for us for a good few seasons but we know it isn’t going to last forever as he is 11 years old now.
“He has been rated in the 160s for five seasons and there are not many horses, as the statistics show, that are rated above 150 in this country.
“When you look at how hard it is to get horses to be vaguely competitive at Cheltenham, we are lucky to have him.”
https://devplatform.ggzssd.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/2.70762708-scaled.jpg12802560DaveMhttps://devplatform.ggzssd.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/geegeez_banner_new_300x100.pngDaveM2023-02-13 11:50:062023-02-13 11:50:06Pace key to Paisley Park’s Festival hopes
Emma Lavelle believes a lack of pace was a major factor behind Paisley Park’s unsuccessful bid for a fourth successive victory in the Cleeve Hurdle at Cheltenham on Saturday.
The popular stayer was beaten nine and a half lengths into third in the Grade Two contest as French raider Gold Tweet caused a minor upset in the Cotswolds.
Next on Paisley Park’s agenda is a fifth tilt at the Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival – a race he won in 2019 and has finished third in the past two seasons behind Flooring Porter.
The 11-year-old is a 20-1 shot to regain his crown with the race sponsors, but Lavelle is hopeful with a stronger gallop he can make his presence felt.
“He’s come out of it well. He seems good in himself, ate up overnight and seems absolutely fine,” said the Wiltshire-based trainer.
“I just think the fact that he was so close to the pace and travelling so comfortably suggested they just weren’t going quick enough for him to make it a test at the end of the race.
“There’s a myriad of reasons you could use or think or see, but for me they just hadn’t gone quick enough for him and Aidan (Coleman) slightly felt the same thing. He asked him, but wasn’t unreasonably hard on him coming up the hill, so we’ll just head on to the Stayers’, all things being equal.”
Gordon Elliott’s Galmoy Hurdle winner Teahupoo is the 11-4 favourite in a Stayers’ Hurdle market dominated by the Irish, with Home By The Lee, Blazing Khal and Flooring Porter all prominent, although the latter is far from certain to bid for the hat-trick following a recent setback.
Assessing the field, Lavelle added: “It does look wide-open and I think it always does going into that race. Teahupoo is a new one on the scene, obviously.
“With more runners at the Festival, they’re likely to go more of a gallop so we’ll see how we go.
“He’d had two hard races already this season before Saturday, but we can freshen him up now and get him back in March.
“He’s such an extraordinary horse and has been so good to us you can never be disappointed in him. Of course you want to win, but you can never walk away disappointed from those races as you know he’s always trying for you and we’ll see what comes next.”
https://devplatform.ggzssd.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/2.70762708-scaled.jpg12802560DaveMhttps://devplatform.ggzssd.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/geegeez_banner_new_300x100.pngDaveM2023-01-30 11:50:552023-01-30 11:50:55Lavelle points to lack of pace in Cleeve Hurdle as factor in Paisley Park defeat
Paisley Park heads to Cheltenham seeking a fourth Dahlbury Stallions At Chapel Stud Cleeve Hurdle success with connections of the 11-year-old confident his spark has been reignited.
The Emma Lavelle-trained fan-favourite has won the last three renewals of the Grade Two contest, although he missed out in 2021 when the meeting was abandoned.
Despite his advancing years, Paisley Park has looked as good as ever this term – finishing a neck runner-up to Champ in the Long Distance Hurdle at Newbury, which will go down as arguably one of the races of the season, before earning a third Long Walk success at Kempton on Boxing Day.
Barry Fenton, Lavelle’s husband and assistant, feels the Andrew Gemmell-owned Oscar gelding is in ripe form as he takes on six rivals in a three-mile contest he has made his own.
“It just feels like the spark is back,” said Fenton. “When he was really well before, he would just get better with each run.
“Touch wood, he came out of Kempton really well and hasn’t missed a beat since.”
Winner of the Stayers’ Hurdle in 2019, and third in the last two renewals to Flooring Porter, Paisley Park will again take in the Grade One contest on March 16 if all goes well.
Fenton added: “It was a good performance in the Stayers’ Hurdle last year and I think he probably wasn’t at his brightest.
“This year, even before I was saddling him at Kempton, he seemed really bright and well in himself, and he has kind of shown that at home.
“He is very willing at home, whereas last year he was making heavy weather of it a little bit.”
Paisley Park has earned a tremendous following thanks to his consistency and ability to claim victory from the jaws of defeat.
Fenton admits the yard are blessed to have such a flag-bearer, saying: “I think it is massive for the yard and for racing fans to have a horse like this.
“The longer it goes on, the more special it becomes. To think he is going back to try to win a fourth Cleeve Hurdle – you just don’t get horses like that.
“He is a credit to himself. He is just one of those horses who comes back year in, year out and keeps trying for us. He is a very special horse.”
Winner of the Grade One Sefton Novices’ Hurdle at Aintree last April, Gelino Bello returns to the smaller obstacles after winning two of three novice chases for Paul Nicholls.
He fell four out in the Kauto Star Novices’ Chase at Kempton on Boxing Day and the champion trainer is keen to see how he fares back over hurdles.
“He just didn’t jump as well as he could have done at Kempton the other day. I think there were some shadows down the back straight and he lost confidence the first circuit. He was still going well when he fell at the last down the back,” said Nicholls.
“I think a run over hurdles won’t do him any harm and it might just sharpen him up a bit. If he went and won or ran very well, I’ve got the option of going for the Stayers’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival with him. It is a bit of a fact-finding mission.
“This weekend will tell us a lot, however he is not going there for a day out, he is going there and he will be doing his damnedest to win.
“If we are going to go for a Stayers’ Hurdle, we need to beat Paisley Park or run him very close.”
Jeremy Scott hopes Dashel Drasher can indicate he stays the trip, having chased home Marie’s Rock in the Relkeel Hurdle at the same track last time.
The 10-year-old has done much of his winning on flatter tracks at Ascot, Newbury and Aintree, but on ratings, he is most likely to put it up to Paisley Park.
Scott said: “He is very well and we’re looking forward to the race. It is competitive in terms of numbers and theoretically, with the weight allowances, we are second-highest rated, but it depends whether or not he stays three miles wholly around Cheltenham.
“I didn’t think he’s given any indication he wouldn’t, so I don’t see why he won’t run well.
“He ran well there the other day and hopefully he will give a good account and it will dictate where we go from there.”
The Somerset handler knows Paisley Park will take some beating if he returns in the same form as when winning last year.
He added: “I watched Paisley Park’s race last year when he got left at the start and I felt it was a phenomenal performance – and it was run at a very solid gallop, so he is going to take an awful lot of beating.
“The joy of National Hunt racing is that people latch on to horses like him – it’s great for the sport.”
Lord Accord is another who returns from chasing, having finished ninth to Le Milos in the Coral Gold Cup at Newbury. Though the outsider of the sextet, he is guaranteed to stay the trip.
His trainer, Neil Mulholland, said: “He’s been freshened up since Newbury and he’s fresh and well at the moment. But he has nicer targets in the spring and we did the same with The Druids Nephew – he ran in the Cleeve Hurdle before he won the Ultima and that is probably where Lord Accord will go.
“He handled Cheltenham when he won there in November, so we know he likes the track. We’ll give him a spin round over hurdles and see how we go.”
https://devplatform.ggzssd.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/2.70029409-scaled.jpg12802560DaveMhttps://devplatform.ggzssd.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/geegeez_banner_new_300x100.pngDaveM2023-01-27 14:17:092023-01-27 14:17:09Cleeve king Paisley Park back for more at Cheltenham
Paisley Park is reported to be in “great order” ahead of a fifth run in the Stayers’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival.
Emma Lavelle’s stable star won the Paddy Power-backed Thursday feature in 2019 and his name was among the 28 possible runners for the contest when the entries were released on Tuesday.
Last seen defying the tight turns of Kempton when landing the rearranged Long Walk Hurdle on Boxing Day, the 11-year-old will attempt to win the Dahlbury Stallions At Chapel Stud Cleeve Hurdle for a fourth time on January 28 as he completes his on-track Festival preparations.
And his trainer is proud to see him still competing at the highest level despite his advancing years.
“It just goes to show that you should never pigeonhole Paisley and I couldn’t have been happier with him on a track (Kempton) that probably doesn’t play to his strengths,” said Lavelle.
“I was very proud that he’s still winning at that level as a 10-year-old.
“Touch wood, he’s in great order – good, fresh and well and he’ll go to the Cleeve Hurdle first and the Stayers’ Hurdle is his big aim as ever. He’ll do one more piece of work on the grass next week (ahead of the Cleeve) but he’s in good form.”
Paisley Park has finished placed behind Gavin Cromwell’s hat-trick seeking Flooring Porter in the past two years, but Lavelle has hopes of a reversal this time.
On turning the tables with the defending champion, she continued: “I certainly hope so – I do think so far this year that he has been performing better than last year and if he can keep that up, I’d like to think we’ll be finishing closer or hopefully in front of him.”
The Paddy Power market is dominated by Irish-trained entries with Flooring Porter heading the betting at 5-1 and closely followed by Joseph O’Brien’s Christmas Hurdle scorer Home By The Lee and Willie Mullins’ Klassical Dream.
The latter is one of eight for the Closutton handler with the possible Mullins runners including the Rich Ricci-owned pair of Chacun Pour Soi and Monkfish and last year’s Ballymore winner Sir Gerhard.
Charles Byrnes won the race with Solwhit in 2013 and could be represented by Blazing Khal, while the shortest-priced British-trained entry is Nicky Henderson’s Marie’s Rock, despite last year’s Mares’ Hurdle champion most likely to defend her title over shorter on the Tuesday of the Festival.
However, one whose name was missing from the list of entries is Seven Barrows stablemate Champ, who will bypass Prestbury Park in favour of a trip to Merseyside.
“Champ is on a little break so he won’t be running at Cheltenham,” said Frank Berry, racing manager to owner JP McManus.
“He will be freshened up for Aintree, that is the plan with him.”
https://devplatform.ggzssd.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/2.70382289-scaled.jpg12802560DaveMhttps://devplatform.ggzssd.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/geegeez_banner_new_300x100.pngDaveM2023-01-10 15:17:362023-01-10 15:17:36Lavelle backing Paisley Park to close gap with Flooring Porter
Emma Lavelle is used to being surprised by Paisley Park but believes his third Long Walk Hurdle success at Kempton on Boxing Day was up there with his best performances.
When the race was frozen off at Ascot two weeks ago, Lavelle was delighted the race was rescheduled but admitted Kempton would not be near the top of the list of tracks deemed suitable for her stable star, who turns 11 in a matter of days.
The popular veteran showed he is as good as ever, though, by running down Champ and Goshen between the final two flights before powering away to victory.
“He probably won as impressively there as he has anywhere for many years – but that is Paisley for you, you just never know and he makes it up as he goes along!” said Lavelle.
“To call him versatile is a understatement. He’s won right-handed and left-handed, on good ground and heavy ground, flat tracks and undulating tracks, quick tracks and staying tracks. When he’s on song, he is extraordinary.
“He’s about to turn 11 but you see when he hits the front, his ears go forward and hears the crowd – he just loves it. He loves the adulation he gets and accordingly I think he has a great rapport with the crowd, they love him.
“All the way through the race yesterday, bar the first two hurdles, he was in a lovely position and in a great rhythm, coming to three out I thought everything was going great, he was still on the bridle.
“Then he met three out wrong, the others quickened and all of a sudden he’s off the bridle and chasing them during his flat spot. At that moment I wondered if the track was just going to find him out, but on the way to two out and he started getting closer, I suddenly thought it was game on. When he can smell victory, then off he goes.”
Having finished a narrow second to Champ at Newbury first time out this season, Lavelle’s husband and assistant Barry Fenton believes their stalwart is in much better form this term than last.
“Barry said he just looks in better form with himself this year and I have to agree. Don’t get me wrong, last year he ran some terrific races and won another Cleeve Hurdle but this year he just seems to be buzzing,” said Lavelle.
“He’s so special and so important to us and while he’s enjoying it we’ll keep going. He hasn’t had much in his favour in two runs this year, yet he’s run brilliant races. I just think he spends a lot of time laughing at us and he never wants to be pigeonholed.
“How the race is run is so important. The last two Stayers’ Hurdles have been dictated from the front and turned into a sprint – that hasn’t played to our strengths – but this year he seems to be sharper and not giving them quite as much of a start.
“Having said that, if we go to the Cleeve next, knowing Paisley he might do the same as he did last year and give them all a head start! He certainly makes it interesting, too interesting in my opinion.”
Lavelle herself was absent from Kempton on Boxing Day and instead cheered him home from Wincanton.
“Barry is such a part of Paisley’s life. Andrew (Gemmell, owner) was in Australia, we had owners at Wincanton so I just thought ‘fair’s fair’, it meant a lot to him to be able to go and enjoy that,” she explained.
“Becca (James) who looks after him rang me after the race saying how emotional it was to hear everyone shouting for him and wanting their picture with him. It’s rare to have the opportunity to be involved in a horse like that for any of us and it’s very special.”
https://devplatform.ggzssd.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/2.70375159-scaled.jpg12802560DaveMhttps://devplatform.ggzssd.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/geegeez_banner_new_300x100.pngDaveM2022-12-27 12:36:372022-12-27 12:36:37Lavelle hails Long Walk hero Paisley Park
Paisley Park raised the roof at Kempton by winning the rescheduled Ladbrokes Long Walk Hurdle.
Trainer Emma Lavelle had voiced concerns pre-race that staging the race at such a sharp track would not suit her stable star – and that looked sure to be proven right as the soon-to-be 11-year-old began to lose touch turning into the straight.
It was Champ, who had made all the running, who looked to hold all the aces as he was still travelling well for Jonjo O’Neill junior, while Goshen – trying three miles for the first time – had still to play his hand.
But as stamina possibly began to tell, Goshen had no more to give and Champ was soon sending out distress signals, too, as Aidan Coleman and his old partner began to stay on relentlessly.
On jumping the last Paisley Park (9-2) just took off in front and from there the result seemed inevitable as he powered away to win by four and a quarter lengths from Goshen to gain a fourth Grade One success.
Coleman told ITV Racing: “That’s three Long Walks he’s won now, two at Ascot and one at Kempton.
“I find it hard not to get emotional about him as he’s an absolute pleasure. He’s been a mainstay of my career for a long period of time, he’s taken me to places that I’m struggling to repeat – especially this year.
“The better horses I ride are getting a bit older apart from Jonbon, but then along comes this fellow and he is a testament to Emma and Barry (Fenton) and their team.
“He’s running in three-mile slogs for six years now, it’s nearly unheard of.”
He added: “He picked up well and going to the last I knew I’d win. I actually got the front too soon, I don’t think I’ve ever given him a good ride!”
Fenton, Lavelle’s partner and assistant, said: “It’s just unbelievable really, he pulls it out of the bag every time. He just seems to have that spark back this year.
“I was a bit worried over the first two hurdles but even tacking him up before the race, he just seemed right. He’s not even just a bit better than last year, he feels like he’s as good as we’ve had him. Last year everything was a bit hard work, even training him at home, but this year he seems bright and happy and enjoying himself. He’s one of those horses.
“This was probably his least favourite ground, but I said to Aidan that this is Paisley Park and you never know what is going to happen. To be fair I was happy going to the third-last and it was just when we landed at the back of it that all of a sudden we were under the pump and under it proper.
“The dead ground probably helped us in the sense that the others came back to him and once he gets a feel that the others are coming back to him he’s at it again.
“He’s one of those horses and he always pulls through. We nearly lost him a couple of times, but he’s a fighter and he pulls through. He’s a poker player and I’d hate to play poker with him as you would not know what’s under his sleeve! That’s the way he trains at home, he takes his every day stuff with a pinch of salt but he’s an incredible horse.
“I’ve spoken to Emma and she’s happy and funnily enough I’ve spoken to Andrew (Gemmell, owner) on the phone. He’s down in Australia so I’m gutted for him that he’s not here, but at least the race was on after Ascot and I was giving him the commentary.
“I won’t say what he said at the end, but he was very happy anyways!”
Of Goshen, Josh Moore, assistant to his father, Gary, said: “He ran well. You would rather run him over these trips or two and a half miles, but there are not many of them about, especially right-handed. You would have probably the race rather been at Ascot as that might have suited him a bit better. He has run well.
“He is only a six-year-old and both Paisley Park and Champ are 10 year-olds. Hopefully there will be other targets for him. We will give him another go over fences when it is heavy ground.”
Nicky Henderson said of Champ, who got the better of Paisley Park when they met in the Long Distance Hurdle at Newbury: “It was a great race, but he is better going the other way. Barney (Clifford, clerk of the course) said he was going to have some nice soft ground and well done them for putting it on and we are grateful for that, but he is better going the other way round. He does everything to his left.
“He could do that (go for the Cleeve). He is a very good horse when he is fresh though. We ummed and ahhed whether to go to Newbury or keep him fresh for the Long Walk and we opted for Newbury as we thought we had the opportunity there. It was a great race and we got that.
“I was very pleased when this was delayed a week as it gave him an extra week to freshen up a bit more. His jumping was a bit untidy at times as he wanted to go left and the course goes right. You could easily do that (keep him fresh for the Stayers’ Hurdle).It is not ducking or diving, he just loves to be fresh.”
https://devplatform.ggzssd.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/2.70375084-scaled.jpg12802560DaveMhttps://devplatform.ggzssd.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/geegeez_banner_new_300x100.pngDaveM2022-12-26 13:04:592022-12-26 14:00:12Paisley Park raises the roof at Kempton with Long Walk triumph
Gary Moore will be an intrigued onlooker when Goshen tackles three miles for the first time in the Ladbrokes Long Walk Hurdle at Kempton on Boxing Day.
The one-time Champion Hurdle hope embarked on a novice chasing campaign at the start of the season, but a disappointing first effort over fences meant that plan was swiftly aborted.
Goshen may not always be the easiest to predict, but he is a force to be reckoned with on a going day, as he proved when winning the two-and-a-half-mile Coral Hurdle at Ascot last month.
The cancellation of Ascot’s Long Walk card and the subsequent switch to Sunbury means the six-year-old will visit Kempton for the first time since running on the all-weather four years ago. But Moore does not expect the change of venue to be a problem.
He said: “We’re looking forward to it to a certain extent, it’ll be interesting.
“I don’t see any reason why he won’t stay – he’s a pretty relaxed horse. He’ll need to stay in that company, so we’ll see.
“It wasn’t until he ran at Ascot last month that we thought about it (stepping up in trip) as he didn’t really get going until he turned into the straight that day.
“He’s so limited as to what races he can run in as he has to go right-handed and can’t really run in handicaps, so it was either run over two miles in the Christmas Hurdle or over three in the Long Walk.
“They’re getting a nice drop of rain, which is good for us, and if he does stay the trip it will give us a few more options.”
Two horses who have been there and very much done it over three miles are familiar foes Champ and Paisley Park.
The 10-year-olds treated Newbury racegoers to a humdinger in their latest clash in last month’s Long Distance Hurdle, with Nicky Henderson’s Champ repelling the late thrust of Paisley Park by a neck.
“It was disappointing Ascot was off but it is good they keep the Grade Ones, which is important,” Henderson told Unibet ahead of the rematch.
“It hasn’t inconvenienced Champ. I’m not sure Kempton is a great track for him as he tends to go a little left, mind you Ascot is right-handed as well and he’s won there.
“Kempton is a little tighter and it possibly won’t suit Paisley Park either, so we’re probably both in the same boat and something else might come and beat them!”
Paisley Park’s trainer Emma Lavelle has similar thoughts to Henderson on the suitability of Kempton for her stable star, but is nevertheless happy to roll the dice.
She said: “He’s unbelievable, he really he is. He seems to be absolutely flying in himself and came out of Newbury really well.
“I have to say I was kind of surprised at just how well he did run at Newbury, with it being his first run of the season on ground that would have put the emphasis on speed rather than stamina. I was absolutely thrilled with how he ran – thrilled and gutted at the same time.
“But the fact that he is still prepared to put that much into his races and run to that level just shows what an extraordinary horse he is.
“The track is clearly not ideal and he’s going to have to run to his absolute best to win a race like that on a track like that, but who knows?”
The small but select field is completed by the Paul Nicholls-trained Miranda, who won a Listed prize over the course and distance a month ago but faces a significant step up in grade, and Hughie Morrison’s Not So Sleepy.
Nicholls told Betfair: “She returns to Kempton in top form after a career best at this track last time in a Listed mares’ race, which she won decisively on her first attempt at three miles.
“She ran very well on the Flat before that, wants this trip now and the rain they have had at Kempton should have helped her cause.
“I suspect that the track at Kempton might not be ideal for Champ and Paisley Park, while it is perfect for Miranda.
“I’m glad this race is at Kempton not Ascot and Miranda must have a great chance in receipt of 7lb from the boys.”
https://devplatform.ggzssd.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/2.69850404-scaled.jpg12802560DaveMhttps://devplatform.ggzssd.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/geegeez_banner_new_300x100.pngDaveM2022-12-24 12:25:132022-12-24 12:25:13Goshen heading into the unknown for Long Walk assignment
The exploits of Paisley Park, last season’s champion staying hurdler, were fundamental in thrusting Emma Lavelle into the top echelon of jump racing in the UK last season even if she’d been highly respected with major winners for at least a decade before that, writes Tony Stafford. Labelthou and Crack Away Jack were among her early stable stars, but last weekend at Newbury produced a quickening of the Lavelle pulse.
There is always a slight (or sometimes more than slight) concern when an existing champion returns to start a new season, and both Lavelle and owner Andrew Gemmell were fully aware that resuming in a race as competitive as Newbury’s Ladbrokes Long Distance Hurdle offered a potential threat.
Off the track since his convincing win over Sam Spinner and 16 others in the Stayers’ Hurdle last March, it would have been understandable if Lavelle did not have him fully primed last Friday. There probably was something left to work with but the outcome was more than satisfactory as he came home under Aiden Coleman for a one-length verdict.
The victory should not be under-estimated as the runner-up was the 11-year-old Thistlecrack, running over hurdles for the first time since finishing a well-beaten favourite in the corresponding race two years previously when only fifth of six behind Beer Goggles. The last named, lightly-raced since that day, tragically broke down badly in Friday’s race and had to be put down.
Thistlecrack had turned belatedly to chasing for the Colin Tizzard stable, soon after preceding Paisley Park by three years in winning the Stayers’ Hurdle. Here, as Tom Scudamore produced the now veteran to head on up the run-in on Friday with a narrow lead, you wondered whether Paisley Park would be sharp enough to deny him; but Coleman had everything under control and the build-up to a second title is under way.
For most stables, such a triumph in Grade 1 company would have been sufficient excitement for one weekend, but Lavelle and the Makin Bacon Partnership, which also includes Mr Gemmell, had the effrontery to secure the weekend’s most lucrative prize, the Ladbrokes Trophy (formerly Hennessy) with De Rasher Counter.
Many moons ago, in my formative years on the racetrack, the Exchange Telegraph Company shared with the Press Association (my employer at the time) the responsibility for compiling starting prices for the newspapers. In those days markets were strong and betting shops were in their infancy. Extel had a veteran SP man whose name I seem (possibly wrongly) to remember was Arthur. But he was universally known as Rasher for the simple reason that he had worked as a young man on the bacon counter at Sainsburys.
The Hennessy was never an easy race to win and with so many of chasing’s biggest names, equine and human, on its roll of honour, not least dual winner Denman, it has always had a cachet. This year’s race had no outstanding candidate so 24 horses lined up. De Rasher Counter and young 5lb claimer Ben Jones got the better of a finish of three seven-year-olds, followed home by The Conditional (David Bridgwater) and Elegant Escape (Colin Tizzard), with Nicky Henderson’s nine-year-old Beware The Bear a close fourth.
Henderson also provided two other well-backed horses in ante-post favourite OK Corral and also On The Blind Side but neither ever held out much hope. Another with multiple runners was Tizzard and his 13-2 favourite West Approach was one of only two casualties, unseating Robbie Power at the seventh fence. Yorkhill, trained by Willie Mullins, was already a beaten horse when falling four fences from home, so in effect the only horse to hit the deck in a race of three and a quarter miles and 21 obstacles, all the better for the spectacle and the sport’s image.
De Rasher Counter, by winning off his mark of 149, might be some way off challenging for the weight-for-age championship races like the King George or the Gold Cup but Elegant Escape, who carried 11st12lb top weight and finished very well, must be among Tizzard’s host of challengers for both. Already the veteran of 15 runs over fences and with four wins, he has contested big races for the past two seasons without much luck but the way he closed out the race on Saturday suggests he’s still progressing.
Another horse improving fast is Micky Hammond’s Cornerstone Lad, who overcame a 19lb gulf in hurdles ratings with dual Champion Hurdle winner Buveur D’air to win the Betfair Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Newcastle. Henry Brooke sent the five-year-old clear from the start and despite being joined by the former champ on the run-in had the temerity and also the tenacity to see him off by a diminishing short-head despite all Barry Geraghty’s best efforts. After the race it was reported that Buveur D’air had finished lame on his off-fore leg, having taken a large shard of the second last in the top of his hoof.
Cornerstone Lad had already earned a rating of 142 over jumps when he finished last season with a win in April over the same course, his fourth success in 11 starts. At the time his Flat rating was only 65, ridiculously 77lb lower than his hurdles mark so when he turned up on Oaks Day in a two miles, one furlong handicap at Carlisle on heavy going I thought all my Christmases had come at once. All day I was regaling anyone at Epsom who would listen that this 6-4 shot was the biggest certainty of all time, so when he was beaten a short head by Only Orsenfoolsies, a 10-year-old 33-1 rag also trained by Hammond, imagine my embarrassment – only exceeded by the hit to my finances.
Only Orsenfoolsies won his next race over hurdles soon after, but Cornerstoine Lad was not sighted again until five months after Carlisle and, still rated 65, won as the 4-1 favourite at Catterick, an effort that brought his Flat rating to the dizzy heights of 71. A couple of weeks later he reverted to hurdles at Wetherby and showed how accurate the 142 was when “leading on the bit three out and drawing clear” in the words of the close-up man in the Racing Post.
So as he lined up at Newcastle on Saturday, also facing 154-rated Silver Streak and Lady Buttons (146), who received 7lb as well as the long odds-on favourite, he was available at more than double that pair’s price with only the Ray Tooth-bred Nelson River (142) at longer odds. That pair were comfortably beaten off and it doesn’t take a crystal ball to predict another big hike in Cornerstone Lad’s mark, possibly somewhere near 160, or 158 if the line to Silver Streak is taken literally.
That will mean if Micky Hammond wishes, he can revert to the Flat again, but now with an 87lb differential, in other words he’ll be a 10lb bigger certainty than at Carlisle – that is if Micky doesn’t have another old-timer to ruin the job.
A few weeks back I got a call from my son saying he was eating for the first time in the fish restaurant that had opened literally one hundred yards from my home in Hackney Wick about a year prior and it was “fantastic, we’ll have to go there one day soon”. I remembered those comments, so when a friend, Scott Ellis, wanted an option of where we could meet for lunch last Thursday, that conversation immediately came to mind. There wasn’t a chip to be seen but the food, overseen by the restaurant’s owner Tom Brown, apparently a Michelin starred chef in his earlier days, had recently been named Restaurant of the Year for London at the AA awards. There was never ANY restaurant in Hackney Wick for more than 60 years, just the Wick Café where I read my paper every morning.
“What’s it called?” asked Scott. “I’ll look it up.” “Hold on, yes, it’s Cornerstone! Bugger me!”
00mattbisognohttps://devplatform.ggzssd.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/geegeez_banner_new_300x100.pngmattbisogno2019-12-02 09:14:152019-12-02 09:14:15Monday Musings: Newbury a Cornerstone of the NH Season