Amidst all the understandable hullabaloo surrounding the falls of Constitution Hill and The New Lion, and then Panic Attack still making sure the Dan Skelton Saturday steamroller kept up its formidable momentum, it shouldn’t be overlooked what a good result Newbury’s Coral Gold Cup proved to be for British jumping as a whole.
We all know how vulnerable the home side is in this type of race, and although the old Hennessy has never proved as happy a hunting ground for Ireland as other similar prizes, a challenge bristling with menace was assembled by the usual nemeses – including Willie Mullins (x4), Henry de Bromhead (x2), Gordon Elliott and Gavin Cromwell – to target the historic £250,000 pot.
However, despite fine efforts by Elliott’s Three Card Brag (2nd) and Gorgeous Tom for de Bromhead (4th), the visitors were basically seen off.
On the winner – and off her, when asked to parade the trophy for the crowds around the paddock: nice touch – jockey Tristan Durrell, 24, cut an impressive dash, showing no signs of the pressure he said he felt after The New Lion’s Newcastle mishap, delivering Panic Attack to better an already striking success at Cheltenham a fortnight earlier as only the second mare to win the Newbury feature in its sixty-eight-year history.
The very fact that the Skelton operation so regularly entrusts Durrell with important assignments perhaps tells its own story about the potential succession when one day Harry (now 36) hangs up his popular Skelicopter celebration.
Meanwhile, while the trainer seems to have, in Willie Mullins, one principal opponent standing between him and a first championship, the path to the conditional jockeys’ title for Durrell, whose three-pound claim may struggle to make Christmas, looks even more examining thanks to Freddie Gordon, Toby McCain-Mitchell and co. (quite a lot of them).
+ Re. Constitution Hill…
Nicky Henderson has all but ruled out this most public of horses attempting a steeplechase, and surely asking him to have another go at hurdles is unlikely after Newcastle, though others may ultimately decide: when the numbers in the form figures become out-numbered by letters (as is the case here), the authorities are inclined to question the wisdom of ploughing on, as happened with a horse I used to own. So what about flat racing? The worry about a nearly-nine-year-old embarking down that particular route is that it’s such a different discipline that mixing it at the level which a horse of Constitution Hill’s status deserves is sometimes easier said than done. Personally, I fear retirement might end up being the only answer.
+ Something for the weekend…
An intriguing edition of the Tingle Creek at Sandown, in which Il Etait Temps is odds-on to further enhance his reputation – and give Willie Mullins his first winner of the British season – and a competitive Becher Chase at Aintree top the bill, but don’t miss the six-year-old which has quietly turned into a bit of a star. The Nick Gifford-trained Aworkinprogress will make it seven wins on the bounce and set up a possible tilt at the Welsh Grand National on December 27 if successful over the course at Chepstow – though he also has an entry at Uttoxeter next week if conditions end up being judged insufficiently soft. The mud-loving Aworkinprogress, owned by JP McManus and once upon a time not disgraced behind rising-star chaser Romeo Coolio in a Galway point-to-point, has looked ahead of his name – as well as the system – since landing a first handicap off a weight level of 90 in March last year. He’s now rated 125, but it will be no surprise if the inevitably tougher tasks ahead are taken in his stride.
