GOLD CUP FEARS FOR INJURED CONEYGREE
THE remainder of Coneygree’s season hinges on tests carried out over the next two days on the leg injury which has ruled him out of Kempton’s William Hill King George VI Chase on Boxing Day.
The Cheltenham Gold Cup winner was yesterday transferred from his Oxfordshire stable to Newmarket for examinations on what are feared to be fractures in the hocks of both hind legs.
Confirmation of that would end Coneygree’s season and prevent him from defending his crown at the Cheltenham Festival. But Sara Bradstock, who trains the eight-year- old with husband Mark, was clinging to the hope of a positive prognosis yesterday.
‘He schooled brilliantly yesterday and worked brilliantly,’ she said. ‘We all got very excited but last night he wasn’t quite right. He has damaged his hock.He won’t run in the King George, but we won’t know the extent of the damage for a couple of days.’
Coneygree was a comfortable winner on his comeback at Sandown last month but then missed the Hennessy Gold Cup because of a bruised hoof. Earlier this week, Mark Bradstock admitted it was possible Coneygree could have ‘ricked something’ as he sought to avoid the pain of the initial problem.
His wife was adamant that the injury was not careerthreatening for the unbeaten chaser who became the first novice to win the Gold Cup for 41 years.
Sara added: ‘He’s not as lame as when he had the hurt foot. There’s no question that this is the end. We know the engine is there, but the long legs that serve him so well on the racecourse are a little bit fragile.’
The absence of Coneygree from the King George prompted the sponsors to cut Gordon Elliott’s Don Cossack to 11-4 favourite and shave a point off dual winner Silviniaco Conti, who is now 7-1.
The missing Gold Cup winner also slightly eases the task for the highly-touted Willie Mullinstrained 3-1 second favourite Vautour.
Ireland’s champion trainer, who could also run outsider Valseur Lido, offered sympathy to the Bradstocks saying: ‘For a small yard, he is a big horse who will consume their every waking moment. I know what it was like when we were small.
‘It is very tough for a small yard. We feel for them.’