Politologue triumphs
The good-looking grey wins by a whisker, while one horse shows his class to clinch a hardfought contest
ON what was a good weekend for greys, the Grade Two Christy 1965 Chase at Ascot went to Politologue under Sam Twiston-Davies.
Having travelled beautifully to the front going to the second last, the Paul Nicholls-trained chaser was all out to beat Kim Bailey’s Charbel (see comment, below) half a length at the finish.
Politologue’s owner John Hales last won the race, which celebrates the year when Ascot first had jump racing, with Al Ferof in
2013 and 2014. Al Ferof went on to finish third in the King George and it is to that race — that Hales won twice with One Man — the seven-year-old grey Politologue now heads.
“I’d say I was more worried today than I will be at Kempton because he had to go and do it today,” said Hales. “The pressure was on and it would have been total failure if he’d been second, but he came and did everything he had to. Two miles, five furlongs round here is about the same as three miles round Kempton, and they’ll go a bit quicker there, which will suit him.”
All of this, however, is part of a bigger plan — to win the Gold Cup. Hales, who won the Grand National with Neptune Collonges, another grey, added: “If he gets three miles at Kempton, I’ll do all I can to persuade Paul [Nicholls] to run him in the Cotswold Chase and then the Gold Cup. I’ve won everything I want to win, but I’ve got the Grand National trophy at home and next to it is a space for the Gold Cup.”
‘HE TOUGHED IT OUT’
IF THE CAP FITS is working his way through the hurdling ranks and his hard-fought, rather than flashy, win in the Coral Hurdle at Ascot put him on course for Kempton’s Christmas Hurdle and a crack at the Champion Hurdle in March.
Harry Fry’s six-year-old, owned by Paul and Clare Rooney, looked in trouble turning in but showed his class from the last to beat the reliable Old Guard by a length and a half.
“We saw a different side to If The Cap Fits today,” said the Rooney’s racing manager Jason Maguire. “Normally he tanks and travels through his races, but today he was a bit behind the bridle and he toughed it out.”
‘I’ve won everything I want to win, but
there’s a space for the Gold Cup’
JOHN HALES