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| Mark Bradstock lifts Newbury prize as Carruthers refuses to go quietly | Mark Bradstock lifts Newbury prize as Carruthers refuses to go quietly |
| (about 3 hours later) | |
| The tiny, Gold Cup-winning Letcombe Bassett yard of Mark and Sara Bradstock stole the show once more when Carruthers won another decent pot in front of an appreciative audience here. It is closing on four years since this doughty warrior won them the Hennessy Gold Cup around this same circuit and he may not have many more races in him – but he was tough enough to provide the Bradstocks with one more advertisement for their training skills, holding off Amigo by a neck. | The tiny, Gold Cup-winning Letcombe Bassett yard of Mark and Sara Bradstock stole the show once more when Carruthers won another decent pot in front of an appreciative audience here. It is closing on four years since this doughty warrior won them the Hennessy Gold Cup around this same circuit and he may not have many more races in him – but he was tough enough to provide the Bradstocks with one more advertisement for their training skills, holding off Amigo by a neck. |
| The winner, ridden by Nico de Boinville, is a half-brother to Coneygree, who dramatically raised the stable’s profile just over a week ago by becoming the first novice chaser to win the Gold Cup since 1974. Comparing the two, Sara Bradstock said: “Coneygree is a ruthless professional. He goes out there and he’s on a mission. Carruthers does a lot more worrying about what might go wrong.” | The winner, ridden by Nico de Boinville, is a half-brother to Coneygree, who dramatically raised the stable’s profile just over a week ago by becoming the first novice chaser to win the Gold Cup since 1974. Comparing the two, Sara Bradstock said: “Coneygree is a ruthless professional. He goes out there and he’s on a mission. Carruthers does a lot more worrying about what might go wrong.” |
| Coneygree is easily the more talented but he might not be quite so much fun to know, Sara describing him as being very willing to bite whoever happens to be in the box with him. Carruthers, according to Mark, “is such a lovely, lovely horse to have anything to do with, always has been, and he just doesn’t know how to give up. I know he’s now 12 but you should have seen him when we were trying to tack him up, he was behaving like a bloody two-year-old.” | Coneygree is easily the more talented but he might not be quite so much fun to know, Sara describing him as being very willing to bite whoever happens to be in the box with him. Carruthers, according to Mark, “is such a lovely, lovely horse to have anything to do with, always has been, and he just doesn’t know how to give up. I know he’s now 12 but you should have seen him when we were trying to tack him up, he was behaving like a bloody two-year-old.” |
| In light of what these two horses have achieved, it seems that the Bradstocks have been scandalously overlooked by the owners of steeplechasers, having had to rub along with a single-figure number of horses for several years. They have managed to win six of the 20 races in which they have taken part this season and, thanks to their Cheltenham Festival success, have raked in more than £400,000 in prize money. | In light of what these two horses have achieved, it seems that the Bradstocks have been scandalously overlooked by the owners of steeplechasers, having had to rub along with a single-figure number of horses for several years. They have managed to win six of the 20 races in which they have taken part this season and, thanks to their Cheltenham Festival success, have raked in more than £400,000 in prize money. |
| Mark confirmed that they have had renewed interest from owners in the eight days since the Gold Cup and offered a ready assurance that there was plenty of room for more horses if anyone wished to send one. “Don’t worry, we’ll find boxes,” he said. “They can come and live in the house.” | Mark confirmed that they have had renewed interest from owners in the eight days since the Gold Cup and offered a ready assurance that there was plenty of room for more horses if anyone wished to send one. “Don’t worry, we’ll find boxes,” he said. “They can come and live in the house.” |
| Flintham, another son of the same mare as Carruthers and Coneygree, may run next week. “He’ll go very close,” was Mark’s parting shot. | Flintham, another son of the same mare as Carruthers and Coneygree, may run next week. “He’ll go very close,” was Mark’s parting shot. |
| Paul Nicholls extended to 21 the number of consecutive Saturdays on which he has had at least one winner when Rebel Rebellion beat Pepite Rose here. It has been an extraordinary run, reflecting the trainer’s dominance of this jumps season in Britain, but this may be as far as it will go. With the Flat season on turf starting up next Saturday, Nicholls will have only Uttoxeter and Stratford to aim at and it seems unlikely that he will have many suitable candidates for that level. | Paul Nicholls extended to 21 the number of consecutive Saturdays on which he has had at least one winner when Rebel Rebellion beat Pepite Rose here. It has been an extraordinary run, reflecting the trainer’s dominance of this jumps season in Britain, but this may be as far as it will go. With the Flat season on turf starting up next Saturday, Nicholls will have only Uttoxeter and Stratford to aim at and it seems unlikely that he will have many suitable candidates for that level. |
| “I might have to retire now, til Aintree,” he said, in reference to the Grand National meeting in three weeks’ time. Rebel Rebellion remains a possible runner in the National itself, though his stamina would be in doubt. | “I might have to retire now, til Aintree,” he said, in reference to the Grand National meeting in three weeks’ time. Rebel Rebellion remains a possible runner in the National itself, though his stamina would be in doubt. |
| Nicholls identified his main National contenders as Rocky Creek and Unioniste and said they had “both worked great this morning and they’re in really good order. Sam Winner, I haven’t made any plans. Benvolio would want it soft. Rolling Aces won’t run.” | Nicholls identified his main National contenders as Rocky Creek and Unioniste and said they had “both worked great this morning and they’re in really good order. Sam Winner, I haven’t made any plans. Benvolio would want it soft. Rolling Aces won’t run.” |
| The National was also in the thoughts of another winning trainer here, Charlie Longsdon, whose Ely Brown is 100-1 for the Aintree race after a year blighted by setbacks including a bout of pneumonia. But Longsdon reports the horse is now very well, has had a wind operation since his hurdles run in January and may school over a National-style fence in Lambourn this coming week. | The National was also in the thoughts of another winning trainer here, Charlie Longsdon, whose Ely Brown is 100-1 for the Aintree race after a year blighted by setbacks including a bout of pneumonia. But Longsdon reports the horse is now very well, has had a wind operation since his hurdles run in January and may school over a National-style fence in Lambourn this coming week. |
| Nicky Henderson, who plans to run Hadrian’s Approach in the National, also had an interesting plan for his 2013 Gold Cup winner Bobscorrect Worth. The horse has now been dropped so far in the handicap that he may take his chance in the Bet365 Gold Cup which closes the jumps season at Sandown on 25 April. | |
| Davy Russell got some good news on Saturday night after initial fears that he had broken an arm and a leg in a nasty fall at Gowran. “The good news about Davy is that his leg is fine,” reported Dr Adrian McGoldrick, the Turf Club’s senior medical officer. “He’s got a fractured ulna, that’s the smaller bone in his forearm. He will probably have elective surgery on Monday and, all going well, should be back for Punchestown.” | |
| The Punchestown festival is due to begin on 28 April, so Russell’s prospects are certainly brighter than they appeared immediately after his fall. But he had earlier revealed the surprising news that he had lost the ride on last year’s Gold Cup winner, Lord Windermere, and all other horses trained by Jim Culloty. The rupture appears to have been caused by this year’s Gold Cup, in which Russell and Lord Windermere never got into the argument and pulled up two-out. | |
| “After the Gold Cup, Jim told me he didn’t want me riding his horses,” Russell told the Irish Daily Star. “He wasn’t happy with the ride I gave the horse and he said he wanted a change.” | “After the Gold Cup, Jim told me he didn’t want me riding his horses,” Russell told the Irish Daily Star. “He wasn’t happy with the ride I gave the horse and he said he wanted a change.” |