Racing Newbury and Newcastle
Scudamore brings home the first of three for Colin Tizzard in the feature race
COLIN TIZZARD may have recently sold his dairy herd but it has not taken him long to replace cows with staying chasers if the Ladbrokes Trophy at Newbury on Saturday is anything to go by. The race saw Sizing Tennessee leading home stablemate Elegant Escape, which is the trainer’s second win in the race in three years.
Time will tell whether Sizing Tennessee is another Native
River, who went on to win the same season’s Welsh National and, ultimately, the Gold Cup last March. But, although Sizing Tennessee has relatively few miles on the clock and fits the profile of being an unexposed, second season chaser, he is already 10 — four years older than Native River when he won the race.
Regardless of his age, he and Tom Scudamore were in control of
this year’s Ladbrokes Trophy from a good mile out when, positioned close on the heels of the leaders, it became clear nothing was travelling better behind the frontrunning Dingo Dollar.
The favourite, Thomas Patrick, had not jumped with great fluency and was already off the bridle, and plenty of others were dropping away. Ms Parfois was labouring, Black Corton was struggling under top weight and hold-up tactics, while American had long since spat his dummy out and, in Dingo Dollar, Scudamore had the perfect target.
He joined him at the fourth last, passed him at the last ditch and from then on it was just a case of remaining upright. Elegant Escape stayed on for second but he was a respectful 10 lengths
back in second with a tired Dingo Dollar in third. West Approach, a third Tizzard runner, was fifth.
The winner beat 11 rivals in the smallest field assembled for what was formerly the Hennessy Gold Cup this century, despite the sponsor’s considerable carrot of £250,000. The lion’s share of that (£200,000) went to Tizzard.
Hopefully, the small field is just a blip due to the dry autumn, when it has been hard to get horses ready, because Total Recall beat 19 rivals last year and Native River 18 others in 2016.
‘IT’S UNREAL’
ALTHOUGH the form was all there in the book — Sizing Tennessee looked like he had Black Corton beat when falling at Cheltenham in October 2017, he led to the last in the National Hunt Chase and the horse he beat at Fontwell six weeks previously, Capeland, has won twice since — Tizzard was surprised with the manner in which he won.
“He bolted up first time [at Fontwell] and we thought there’s only one race for him before Christmas and he goes and does that,” he exclaimed. “He had leg trouble before he came to me and has low mileage. It’s good when it works out but he just strolled away from them. Tom gave me encouragement in the paddock saying he was the best handicapper in the race.
“We’ve come here this weekend and been disappointed with three or four,” he added. “Then to have three of the first five is unreal. I’ve always been quite good at training big, slow horses.”
He added: “If the entries were tomorrow, I’d put him in the Gold Cup. We tried plenty with him last year. He was legless in the National Hunt Chase and I was sure we’d jarred him up in the Scottish National. But he’s come back and had these two runs. Things happen when we don’t know they happen and that’s the beauty of National Hunt racing.”
Scudamore was also winning the race for a second time, 10 years after he did so on Madison Du Berlais. This was poignant for him because his grandfather, John Kington, died a fortnight ago and his funeral, which Tom missed because he was riding at Newbury, was on Friday, 30 November.
“This one is for my grandfather,” he said. “Suddenly down the back I was thinking ‘where’s everyone gone?’ He’s done it in the fashion of a really good horse — it was some thrill.”
BEST AUTUMN RACING
THERE is no doubt it has taken this jump season longer than usual to warm up, but Newbury’s card on Friday, 30 November, was about the best racing we have had this autumn and, hopefully, Saturday’s morning’s rain will have just eased conditions enough to get a few more good horses out.
Picking the most significant winner on Friday was not easy, but Gary Moore’s Knocknanuss could well play a part in this season’s Arkle come March, even with Kalashnikov and Lalor laying down markers in that division.
The eight-year-old tanks along and when he decided to make the running going to the water Jamie Moore had little say in the matter. But, the water aside, he jumped well and kept the gallop up all the way to the line to beat the favourite, Kupatana, by 17 lengths.
Explaining how Knocknanuss fell on his first start over fences at Plumpton, his trainer Gary said: “He was running downhill, far too fast, got too low and the fence won, so we took him to Fakenham last time. I’d like to think he’s quite smart.”
He added: “He was bought by Harold Kirk [most of whose purchases end up in Willie Mullins’ yard]. He was sold after a few point-to-points but he was lame. There was a proviso that they could send him back if he was still lame after a week — he was and that’s why we ended up buying him.
“He has to go left-handed but he has quite ambitious owners, so I’m sure he’ll get an Arkle entry. It would be tempting to go back to Plumpton — he was entered to run against Kalashnikov on Monday [3 December, for the £60,000 bonus for wins at Plumpton and the Cheltenham Festival] but I wouldn’t want him getting the revs up too much down the hill.”
Warren Greatrex’s mare La Bague Au Roi continues to be the apple of her trainer’s eye after a second success over fences in the Ladbrokes Novices’ Chase. She may now head to Kempton Park for the Kauto Star, although she prefers going left-handed, too.
Tom Lacey may not have won the following day’s Ladbrokes Trophy with Thomas Patrick but Kateson, a grey son of Black Sam Bellamy, looks destined for bigger things, after carrying a penalty to victory in the Ladbrokes Novices’ Hurdle over two-and-a-half miles.
“I told the owners beforehand not to underestimate how hard it is to win a Newbury novice hurdle with a penalty,” said Lacey. “Whatever he does over hurdles is a bonus but he’ll probably come back for the Challow.”
Charlie Deutsch made all the running on Aso to win the Ladbrokes Handicap Chase and continue the comeback for both of them; Deutsch after his contretemps with the law and the horse — who was third in the Ryanair in 2017 — after injury, while U now ha time an harry won a second Ladbrokes Long Distance Hurdle to initiate a good weekend for his owner, JP McManus.