Oliver Sherwood’s Many Clouds on Gold Cup trail after Cheltenham win
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Version 0 of 1. Oliver Sherwood’s low-profile Lambourn stable now houses the third-favourite for the Cheltenham Gold Cup, his Many Clouds having proved that he is still improving by landing the Betbright Cup here on Saturday, but the trainer’s main reaction was relief at having found his way back to this particular winner’s enclosure. Just one reflection of the way Sherwood’s fortunes have fallen from their early-90s peak is that his last success at this track was with Hulysse Royal in a handicap hurdle in November 2000. “Personally, it’s a right monkey off my back, it’s my first Cheltenham winner for 14 years,” Sherwood said, and he kept repeating the phrase “monkey off my back” at intervals of three or four sentences, so there was no danger of missing the significance of this occasion for the 59-year-old. The next monkey scheduled for removal has been in place for a full two decades, that being the time since Coulton became the most recent of his six Festival winners. Can Many Clouds break that long losing run in the meeting’s most famous contest? The bookmakers will offer you no more than 10-1 about him now, with only Silviniaco Conti and Road To Riches at shorter odds. He will have to improve again but he is only eight and his progress has been steady and relentless to this point, like his running style. Setting aside the euphoria of the moment, Sherwood clearly feels his horse has a live chance for the big race on 13 March. “He got into a real good rhythm today, jumped super,” the trainer said. “He was dossing up the hill after the last, you know. I think there’s more to come. His confidence is so sky high and that’s so important for horses. “The number one reason I wanted to come here was to get some Cheltenham experience and give him a bit of confidence around Cheltenham. It’s always dangerous to write off an improving horse, which he is. He’s beaten some pretty tried and tested horses.” That is fair comment, as it was Smad Place, Dynaste and The Giant Bolster who chased him home. The fourth horse has been placed in the past three Gold Cups and, although he was inconvenienced by the steady pace to halfway on this occasion, he trailed the winner by seven lengths at level weights. Dynaste, meanwhile, is already a Festival winner, having taken the Ryanair last year. That shorter race is probably where he is headed once more, though his trainer, David Pipe, said all options would be kept open for now. The plan for Smad Place is to have another cut at the winner in the Gold Cup. His trainer, Alan King, watched this with Sherwood in the owners & trainers bar and the pair have made a pact to meet there again for the March race. “He had a large glass of white wine and I had a large vodka tonic,” Sherwood reported. “And my vodka tonic was spilling over the sides. I didn’t shout or scream, I just watched it, exactly the same as I did the Hennessy.” It hardly seems possible but Many Clouds’ jockey, the 38-year-old Leighton Aspell, is still waiting for his first Festival winner. The way things have gone for him over the past year, during which he won the Grand National on Pineau De Re, it would be no great surprise if he were to break his duck in the Gold Cup and he clearly feels his mount belongs in the lineup. “He’s got to run,” Aspell said. “He enjoys this place and he’s a nice, straightforward horse to ride. Hopefully we’re good enough. He deserves his place and he deserves to be in the money. “I’ve had a few little tinpot winners here, I’ve never had a big Saturday winner here, never had a Festival winner. So it’s lovely to come in on that long walk and hear the applause.” On the highly informative supporting card, Paul Nicholls continued his excellent season by landing the Cleeve Hurdle with Saphir Du Rheu, whose chasing career has been put on hold after a couple of tumbles. He will now try to emulate his former stablemate Big Buck’s, whose colours he also carries, by landing the Festival’s World Hurdle after a brief stint over fences. He is 7-1 second-favourite. Nicholls’ title rival, Nicky Henderson, will have fewer hotpots at the Festival than has been the norm in recent years but Peace And Co is no bigger than 9-4 for the Triumph Hurdle after an impressive victory in the opener. If In Doubt, who won the Skybet Chase at Doncaster, was shortened for the Festival’s RSA Chase, though it would be no surprise if he were found another handicap somewhere. |