Clan caps super eight as Nicholls races clear
CLAN DES OBEAUX completed his Cheltenham Gold Cup preparation in copybook style with victory in the Denman Chase at Ascot as his trainer Paul Nicholls completed a magnificent eigh-ttimer on racing’s super Saturday.
Races rescued from last weekend’s abandoned fixtures following the equine flu outbreak meant Ascot staged a nine-race card and Nicholls won five of them as Brio Conti, Silver Forever, Worthy Farm, and the imperious Cyrname also were successful, the latter destroying his rivals in the Grade One Ascot Chase.
Nicholls also saddled a winner at Haydock, with Quel Destin, and Wincanton, with Magic Saint and Grand Sancy, who landed the Kingwell Hurdle. The trainer’s prizemoney haul for the day was almost £250,000 and took his total for the season to more than £2million.
The splurge of success extended his lead over reigning champion Nicky Henderson in the trainers’ championship and saw his odds for the title cut to 6-4.
With Clan Des Obeaux, partowned by Sir Alex Ferguson, leading Nicholls’ Festival squad, his lead as he seeks an 11th title might take some pegging back. Clan Des Obeaux’s status as a Gold Cup hope was enhanced by his 11-length defeat of Terrefort. Harry Cobden’s mount had been expected to give weight and a beating to his three rivals but the way the King George VI Chase winner surged away was impressive and Sky Bet shaved a point off his Gold Cup odds.
He is now 6-1 third favourite behind Presenting Percy (3-1) and last year’s winner Native River (5-1). Nicholls, who has been less affected by the flu outbreak because he always vaccinates his horses at the turn of the year, said: ‘Every time he runs he learns a little bit. Last season he was a big baby. This season he has come together.
‘A lot of people never gave him credit for winning the King George. Before the race it was being hailed as the best King George for years. Afterwards, it was as if it was a fluke.
‘But he is only seven and he has taken time to be a proper racehorse. Kauto Star was seven when he won his first Gold Cup.’
That is also the age of Cyrname, who arguably produced the performance of the season as he strolled 17 lengths clear of last year’s winner Waiting Patiently.
Cyrname has blossomed in his last two runs but he will not be heading to Cheltenham. He is best racing on right-handed tracks and has not even been given a Festival entry. His big Spring target is likely to be the Punchestown Gold Cup in May and, longer term, Nicholls is eyeing the 2019 King George VI Chase.