Cyrname survives fall but his season is over
CYRNAME, the highest rated steeplechaser in Britain, walked away from a crashing fall at Ascot yesterday but will not race again this season, according to his trainer Paul Nicholls.
The 4-11 favourite to win the Grade One Betfair Ascot Chase for the second year running was a beaten horse and looking like he would finish last of the four starters behind 7-2 winner Riders On the Storm when misjudging the final fence.
Cyrname beat Altior in a muchanticipated clash at Ascot in November but then seemed to lack sparkle when beaten by stablemate Clan Des Obeaux in the King George VI Chase at Kempton on St Stephen’s Day.
Nicholls conceded that he had been worried about the testing ground at windswept Ascot but still felt Cyrname was not firing on all cylinders.
The champion trainer added: ‘We are going to leave it for the season now and go back to the drawing board. He has bloomed in the last three weeks but there is something missing somewhere – I can’t put my finger on it.
‘Everyone will say it’s because he had a hard race against Altior but I don’t think it is that. He has always had breathing issues which would have been made worse on that ground and we might have to look at a little operation.’
Whether Nigel Twiston-Daviestrained Riders On the Storm would have beaten Traffic Fluide, who also fell at the last fence, was debatable but he is as short as 5-1 for the Ryanair Chase and has momentum to his season.
The Twiston-Davies stable also landed Ascot’s Swinley Chase with Ballyoptic, whose Grand National odds were cut to 25-1.