Coleman ends Grade One wait with Paisley Park win
The 2015 Gold Cup winner has a shot at King George VI Chase at the age of 11, writes
Consistently the two most engaging stories in sport are David beats Goliath and the comeback. Coneygree, the 2015 Gold Cup winner, could have both wrapped up in the same parcel for Mark and Sara Bradstock this Christmas when he runs in his first 32Red King George VI Chase at Kempton on Boxing Day.
In the course of laying a pipeline through Letcombe Bassett, the downland village where the Bradstocks train 15 horses, archaeologists discovered what is believed to be a pre-Roman settlement – either that or the site of Tim “Captain” Forster’s old lads’ hostel. But the historic yard from which Forster sent out three Grand National winners, Well To Do, Ben Nevis and Last Suspect, still retains its old magic.
While the Captain’s old yard may not be as full as it was in his day, when 50 or more horses looked out over the stable doors, and the lawn in the middle of the main yard may be rather less manicured, the charmingly chaotic Bradstocks’ Old
Manor Stables has consistently punched way above its weight.
Last season, they added the Bet365 Gold Cup, with Step Back, to go with the Hennessy Gold Cup they won with Carruthers and the Gold Cup won by Coneygree. For years, those were the three biggest chases outside Aintree.
Apart from the individual attention you can give a horse in a small yard, the other advantage is that their grass gallops on top of the Downs are among the finest in the land.
Out of a mare, Plaid Maid, bought cheaply to give Sara’s father, John Oaksey, an interest in racing in retirement and owned by a collection of friends and family, the 11-year-old Coneygree has the longest legs of any horse I have seen. “He’s a grasshopper,” confirms Sara.
If belief and man-hours per horse were the criteria for winning the King George, then Coneygree, who in 2015 became the first novice to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup since Captain Christy in 1974, would already be home and hosed. He is ridden twice daily, is led round the village for a pick of grass, his legs are hosed for half an hour morning and afternoon, tacking him up takes half an hour, and Sara also does some gymnastic warm-up exercises with him.
He is brought back from the gallops in the lorry and has two 45-minute appointments a week with a physiotherapist. He is a logistical conundrum which a lot of bigger yards might have given up on.
From a long line of lawyers – her grandfather, Geoffrey Lawrence, was given the title Lord Oaksey after presiding over the Nuremberg Trials following the Second World War – Sara puts a convincing case for the gelding who, should he triumph, would join an exclusive club of Desert Orchid, Edredon Bleu and Kauto Star as an 11-year-old winner of the race.
“The thing that gives me hope is that he went fast enough in his comeback at Cheltenham in November [third, beaten by just over six lengths The presence of several horses who like to be up with the pace, including Coneygree, is likely to make this a staminasapping race even on decent ground. But can Coneygree keep the gallop up over the final three fences? At 33-1 it is worth taking that chance. No horse travels better in a race than Waiting Patiently, while Tea For Two has run in two King Georges and never been beaten by more than three and a bit lengths. He could be good place value at 40-1. after making much of the running] for it to be the only race which was run in under a standard time that day. He feels as good at home. It proved he could still do what he used to, which is set a strong pace and keep going.
“He was entitled to get tired. It was effectively his first race for two years. Last year, he got a very bad over-reach at Wetherby, and in the Hennessy it came to light his soft palate needed doing again.”
For his age, Coneygree has few miles on the clock. In 16 runs, just 10 starts have been over fences, fewer than seven-year-old Politologue. People question whether Kempton will suit Native River or Bristol De Mai, but the Sunbury course is where it all started for Coneygree in the 2014 Kauto Star Chase. In his second start over fences, he went such a gallop that anything which tried to lay up with him fell, and he won by a distance.
“He still loves it,” says Sara. “We wouldn’t still do this if he didn’t want to. He’s my friend, I’d know if he wasn’t interested. Because we send him off for a bone scan every time he takes a lame step, we’re probably finding things that might normally be missed. Nearly all Gold Cup winners in recent times have lost their way afterwards with the exception of Kauto Star and Denman. You could add Coneygree, but the difference is he has never run a bad race for no reason.
“It may be a pipe dream that an 11-year-old with pins in his hocks is going to be as good as he was, but I truly do believe. It’s like a parent with a talented child. You want people to know how good they are, and I’d love the chance for him to prove he can still do it again. I know he’s in good enough form to give it a good shot.” It is one of the more surprising racing statistics that, until 8-1 shot Paisley Park won an eventful JLT Long Walk Hurdle at Ascot yesterday, Aidan Coleman’s 900-plus winners in a 12-year career did not include a Grade One race.
“I never thought of it as an issue,” reflected the jockey afterwards. “I’ve never been fazed riding in them but it was only in the last 50 yards I realised what it meant to me. In a way it’s slightly embarrassing not to have done it before.”
Paisley Park, who was also a first Grade One winner for trainer Emma Lavelle and owner Andrew Gemmell, now looks a serious player for the Stayers’ Hurdle at Cheltenham.
“He’s improved from Aintree to Haydock and improved again from there to here but how do you know when he’s going to stop improving? If he’d been second or third we might have said ‘He’s a Grade One horse but he might struggle to win one’, but having won it we still don’t quite know his level,” Coleman said.
Lavelle, who described Gemmell as a lucky mascot as most of the horses he had shares in with her had won, said it was the owner’s plan to go to Haydock and then come to Ascot.
Recalling the purchase of Paisley Park, she said: “At the sales Andrew gave me a sum of money and asked me to buy him a nice horse. When I didn’t spend all his money I thought there was a tinge of disappointment.”
At that point Gemmell corrected her and joked the tinge was “surprise” rather than disappointment. “The plan is 82 days until Cheltenham,” he said, confirming that the six-year-old would be freshened up before going there next in a wide open division.
It was an eventful race in that both previous winners departed at the same hurdle on different circuits. Sam Spinner unseated his jockey at the second while Unowhatimeanharry fell there a circuit later. After all but being brought down there, the favourite Call Me Lord found more trouble. He did not stay the three miles.
It was the one blip on an otherwise good day for Call Me Lord’s owners Simon Munir and Isaac Souede. They were on the mark with Kildisart earlier and Valtor, bought as a Grand National prospect, was a rare 33-1 winner for Nicky Henderson on the basis that he had not won in France for two years. Valtor is nine, which is relatively ancient for a French horse, and this was his first start in England. The small, buzzy gelding hit the front six out under James Bowen and quickened clear impressively. “He has surprised us a bit there,” admitted Henderson.
Dan Skelton reckons it is highly unlikely he will be the season’s leading trainer by the end of Boxing Day but he ensured he will still be in front at Christmas after Mohaayed, last season’s County Hurdle winner, won the Betfair Exchange Hurdle, worth £65,000 to the winner, making it Britain’s second most valuable twomile handicap hurdle.