William Hill "High 5" Supporting Greatwood Gold Cup |
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| Grade 3 Handicap, Newbury 15:15 £50,000 added, 5yo plus, 2m 3f 187y, Class 1  |
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| Saturday 4th March 2017 | |
1 Thomas Crapper 8/1
2 Vic De Touzaine 9/2
3 Hollywoodien 9/1
9 ran NR: Shadows Lengthen Distances: 20l, 8l, 20l
Time: 5m 6.80s
Thomas Crapper routs his rivals at Newbury
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Newbury Racecourse staged Greatwood Charity Day on Saturday, March 4, when the feature race was the £50,000 Grade Three William Hill “High 5″ Supporting Greatwood Gold Cup, a handicap chase over two and a half miles.
It was Thomas Crapper (Robin Dickin/Charlie Poste, 8/1) that came out in front. The 10-year-old was recording his second success over the course and distance, having previously taken a handicap chase in April, 2016.
The joint bottom-weight took up the running four fences from home, as the leader Hollywoodien (Tom Symonds/James Davies, 9/1) began to fade. From that point onwards there was little doubt as to the result.
Vic De Touzaine (Venetia Williams/Tom Scudamore, 9/2) overtook Hollywoodien to move into second but never looked like seriously challenging Thomas Crapper, who scored by 20 lengths. Hollywoodien was another eight lengths back in third at the finish.
Winning trainer Robin Dickin admitted he had had doubts about running his charge.
He said: “I always had it in my head that Paul Nicholls had said that if it came up soft, he may not run his two. So I was thinking that I would hate to come out and then none of the big boys run – how stupid would I have looked then?
“I was always going to run Vocaliser in the next race, so I put both horses on the lorry and thought we would worry about it when we get to Newbury. It was a lovely sunny morning and I thought we would take a chance on the ground and hope he would be all right.
“I told Charlie to go really wide on him, so he was on virgin ground and not jumping into mud. His jumping was so on song today. He has jumped from fence to fence.
“He has had some tough races at Cheltenham on really bad ground and it seem like the law of sod that for a horse that likes good ground, every time I want run him it rains and rains!
“I had him entered in the veterans’ hurdle earlier on the card – I can’t believe he is a veteran as to me he is still a baby – but the ground would have been too soft for him over hurdles so we thought that we would have a crack at the big one. Today was our Gold Cup.
“I think the Topham Chase at Aintree could well suit him down to the ground. He is a tremendous jumper and is a very worldly horse.”
Greatwood Gold Cup (Grade 3 Handicap)
£50,000 added, 5yo plus, 2m 3f 187y, Class 1
9 ran
Going: Soft
| Pos | D | Horse SP | Jockey Weight | Trainer | Age |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Thomas Crapper 8/1 | C Poste 10-2 |
R Dickin | 10 | |
| 2nd | 20 | Vic De Touzaine (FR) 9/2 | T Scudamore 10-8 |
Miss V Williams | 8 |
| 3rd | 8 | Hollywoodien (FR) 9/1 | J M Davies 11-2 |
T Symonds | 6 |
| 4th | 20 | O Maonlai (IRE) 13/2 | A P Heskin 11-3 |
T R George | 9 |
| 5th | 6 | Tornado In Milan (IRE) 12/1 | Adam Wedge 10-10 |
Evan Williams | 11 |
| 6th | 3¾ | Dresden (IRE) 9/1 | R Johnson 11-2 |
Henry Oliver | 9 |
| PU | Vibrato Valtat (FR) 13/2 | Stan Sheppard (5) 11-12 |
P F Nicholls | 8 | |
| PU | Oldgrangewood 4/1f | Harry Skelton 11-3 |
D Skelton | 6 | |
| PU | More Buck's (IRE) 8/1 | Sean Bowen 10-8 |
P F Nicholls | 7 | |
| NR | Shadows Lengthen 25/1 | R T Dunne 10-2 |
M W Easterby | 11 |
