END OF THE ROAD FOR A PLUS TARD
‘Very special’ Gold Cup winner is retired
APLUS TARD, winner of the 2022 Cheltenham Gold Cup, has been retired from racing.
Owned by Cheveley Park Stud and trained by Henry de Bromhead, A Plus Tard gave jockey Rachael Blackmore a historic victory in the Prestbury Park feature as she became the first woman to ride the winner of jump racing’s blue riband.
The 10-year-old rocketed to a 15-length success that day, supplementing three previous Grade One wins, including a 22-length verdict in the 2021 Betfair Chase.
However, A Plus Tard has struggled to make his mark since that Gold Cup win, pulling up on two occasions and finishing third at Aintree in April before bowing out when unplaced in the Savills Chase at Leopardstown last month.
Richard Thompson, director of Cheveley Park Stud, paid tribute to the gelding who realised the dream of his late father, David, when winning at Cheltenham.
‘My father and I sat down in early 2018 and agreed a plan to buy some National Hunt horses to be trained in Ireland with the aim of winning the Cheltenham Gold Cup,’ he said.
‘Just over four years later, we achieved this objective when Rachael Blackmore rode A Plus Tard to victory in front of 70,000 people at the first post-Covid Cheltenham Festival.
‘My father watched A Plus Tard win the Savills Chase in a thrilling finish on television on December 28, 2020. He died the very next day. It was the last horse race he ever watched.
‘A Plus Tard was also the first Cheltenham winner in the red, white and blue Cheveley Park Stud colours and Rachael Blackmore’s first winner at Cheltenham in the 2019 Listed Close Brothers Novices’ Chase. Rachael rode him to five of his six victories and Darragh O’Keeffe rode him in the other one.
‘For all of the above reasons, A Plus Tard will always be a very special horse in the history of my parents’ ownership of Cheveley Park Stud.’
A Plus Tard will remain at De Bromhead’s Knockeen yard in the immediate future before returning to Cheveley Park in Newmarket to enjoy his retirement.
De Bromhead added: ‘A Plus Tard was our first horse to train for Cheveley Park Stud and the Thompson Family. He was bought from France by Alex Elliot and gave us many memorable days, culminating in the 2022 Gold Cup.
‘He was sublime that day, not only visually impressive, but also one of the highest rated winners of the Gold Cup in the last 30 years, as well as being one of the best horses we have ever had in our yard.
‘We were delighted when this very special horse won Cheveley Park Stud their first Gold Cup.’
Blackmore was equally voluble in her praise of A Plus Tard, telling Betfair: ‘He had everything you could ask for in a horse, speed, stamina, really accurate jumper.
‘To feel him accelerate like he did after the last in the Gold Cup is a feeling I’ll never forget.’
A Plus Tard bows out the winner of eight of his 23 career starts, taking home over €1.1million in prize-money.