Newbury's bet365 Festival: will Coneygree make the Hennessy Gold Cup?
Neil Mulholland's horses check Newbury's turfWith ten days to go before Newbury's premier fixture with the Hennessy Gold Cup on the third day of the bet365 Festival, press day at the course was a bit overshadowed by news of the favourite - the Mark Bradstock trained Coneygree.
Sara Bradstock, Mark's wife and assistant, told the assembled notebooks, voice recorders and cameras that the previous morning the eight-year-old winner of the 2015 Cheltenham Gold Cup had shed a shoe. If there was an abscess in the foot it might 'pop out'. But, she warned, "If there's a deep seated bruise it's different."
"This sort of problem can", she said, "improve very quickly, but we need to get him out and galloping by the weekend." Coneygree was the first novice winner of the Cheltenham Gold Cup since 1974 and earlier this month won Sandown's Listed Rising Stars Chase by 25 lengths: "He came out of that very, very fresh and well - he's in great nick."
Neil Mulholland
William Greatrex 
Nicky Henderson
Three top trainers - Warren Greatrex, Nicky Henderson and Neil Mulholland - brought horses to Newbury for a work out on the flat course which was riding pretty softly. It is a special year for the sponsors Hennessy who are celebrating their 250th anniversary - with the 59th running of their Gold Cup.
Marlborough interest in the big race will be with Barbury castle trainer Alan King's grey Smad Place who leaped to the fore of the ante-post betting with his win at Kempton on November 2. King told Marlborough News Online that Smad Place was 'fit and in good form'. Prospects? A little shrug and a nod to the windows as the rain battered against the glass.
In last year's Hennessy "He came fifth and finished very tired. The spark had gone." But after that win at Kempton, King said, "Two days later he was back cantering."
William Greatrex & Cole HardenKing's other Gold Cup entry, Ned Stark will only make the cut if higher weights scratch: the race has a maximum field of 24 runners. And after his wonderful run at Cheltenham last weekend, Annacoty was scratched on Tuesday morning. But King will have two or three entries on each day of the Festival.
The Warren Greatrex trained Cole Harden is targeted at the Festival's bet365 Long Distance Hurdle: "I'm very happy with him" - and out on the course he looked a hundred per cent.
Whisper cools off after his gallopAnother horse entered for the Long Distance Hurdle (the race that precedes the Gold Cup) is the Nicky Henderson trained Whisper. He has won major hurdle races at Aintree (twice) and Cheltenham and won his only previous start at Newbury - his prize money stands at £237,188.
But Henderson says: "This time last year he was in no man's land - it was awful. I don't know where he went - it was a complete walk about. Now he's come back."
Also from Nicky Henderson's yard was the seven-year-old gelding Josses Hill who made the switch the chasing last season winning at Doncaster and finishing third in the Grade One Arkle Trophy Chase at the Cheltenham Festival in March when, Nicky says simply, "He got handicapped."
"He's been straight and accurate. Last year - he thought he was brave and awfully good, but would then lose confidence and he froze in mid air. I just hope he's a different kind of horse this year." But Henderson's hopes for the Hennessy rest with Bobs Worth - the 2013 Cheltenham Gold Cup winner.
The Druids Nephew Neil Mulholland brought two of his Hennessy entries - The Druids Nephew and The Young Master - and along for the ride was Si C'etait vrai .
Eight-year-old The Druids Nephew is currently lying seventh in the weights. His career best over fences was his win in a three mile, one furlong chase at the Cheltenham Festival. But he was beaten 25 lengths behind Many Clouds in last year's Hennessy.
Out on the Newbury course he certainly did not look like the horse that reappeared in Wetherby's Grade Two West Yorkshire Hurdle on October 31 - and finished sixth. He will be ridden by Noel Fehily.
Young Master ridden by Sam Waley-CohenAnother of Mulholland's Gold Cup entry's is The Young Master. He was ridden at Tuesday's Newbury work session by Sam Waley-Cohen. No sooner had the pair left the parade ring for the course, than it was announced that Sam's father Robert Waley-Cohen and his racing partners had bought a half share in the horse from Dajam Ltd.
The six-year-old The Young Master - now rated 150 - will go on to be entered for the Welsh Grand national - and may go for the Grand National in 2017.
Jump racing fans arriving at Newbury for the Festival - the course's first jumps meeting of the season - will see some changes. The new bridge over the railway will be open for the first time on the first day of the bet365 Festival - Thursday, November 26. And there will be a new big screen beside the parade ring.
The housing development around the course is proceeding apace - there are now 400 families living in the racecourse community.
But in November 2016 they will be 'shrinking down' the Festival from three to two days: "To give blockbuster days of racing."
The Clerk of the Course said the going on the chase course on Tuesday (november 17) was good to soft, and soft on the hurdle course. What would it be for the Festival? "We expect quite nice weather - but cold."
And finally, finding your perfect parking space is not a challenge confined to town centres: the most successful trainer during the Newbury’s Festival gets to choose where he wants his own exclusive and permanent parking space to be - last year's winner of racing's most enviable 'Keep out' sign was Many Clouds' trainer Oliver Sherwood.
