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| totesport Bowl Chase 7th April 2011 |
Nacarat Romps Home in totesport Bowl
07/04/11
1 Nacarat 7/2
2 Carole's Legacy 4/1
3 Follow The Plan 40/1
6 ran Distances: 6l, 3¾l, 7l
TIME 6m 31.70s (slow by 22.70s)
The front-running Nacarat (7/2) ran out an impressive winner of the totesport Bowl under jockey Paddy Brennan to hold off the gutsy mare Carole’s Legacy. The 5/4 favourite, Denman, finished only fifth.
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The victory was one of the biggest of George’s career while it was the first major triumph for Paddy Brennan since recently relinquishing his position as stable jockey to Nigel Twiston-Davies.
“A lot of hard work has gone into this horse from the vets, physios and people at home,” said George. “Paddy gave the horse a great ride. He told me what he was going to do beforehand and he did it. It was just a relief that it didn’t rain too much and they didn’t carry on watering, he is much better on good ground.
“His work has been exceptional recently. We knew he was well but just wanted everything to go right today. He hadn’t run well on two occasions before at Cheltenham and while I’ve no reason to think he wouldn’t act there, we didn’t want to do anything that might ruin our chances of coming here.
“We’ve won big races this season like this, the Charlie Hall and Peterborough Chase but not been so lucky in the 0-90s and smaller races but I hope this brings in some more horses for us.
“Paddy rode his first winner for me as a conditional and he has been a big help to us. He’s going to be a big part of my yard in the future.
“I will have a think about Punchestown but he’s a fresh horse and enjoys his racing. He loves his work and it’s a privilege to have a horse like him.”
Brennan added: “He was a fresh horse today and I discussed with Tom about trying to win the race early but on this ground no matter how I rode this horse it wouldn’t be a problem. He showed he was the best horse today and when you let him go on that ground he can do a lot of damage to good horse. Today he proved he was really special.
“I really thought that if he had his ground today he would be hard to beat. It may not have been the strongest renewal but he couldn’t have done it any better. On softer ground he doesn’t quicken but he quickened to the line today.
“I’ve still got the backing of Nigel (Twiston-Davies), who has been a great supporter to me and it just happens that Nigel has two wonderful lads riding for him but I’m going to get out there and ride winners. It’s a wonderful new challenge for me but I’m willing to give it a go. I’ve cleared the air and come out as a freelance jockey and already feel like I’m riding better. This was the right decision for me.”
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Position |
Horse Trainer |
Jockey Weight |
Starting Price Beaten Distance |
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1 |
Nacarat T R George |
P J Brennan 11st 7lbs |
7 - 2 Winner |
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2 |
Carole's Legacy N J Henderson |
A P McCoy 11st 0lbs |
4 - 1 6 lengths |
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3 |
Follow The Plan O McKiernan |
T Doyle 11st 7lbs |
40 - 1 3 3/4 lengths |
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4 |
Deep Purple Evan Williams |
Paul Moloney 11st 7lbs |
12 - 1 7 lengths |
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5 |
Denman P F Nicholls |
R Walsh 11st 7lbs |
5 - 4 8 lengths |
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6 |
Punchestowns N J Henderson |
B J Geraghty 11st 7lbs |
6 - 1 14 lengths |
BOTTLE OF WINE COULD RESOLVE CAROLE'S LEGACY
Trainer Nicky Henderson has two issues to resolve following the totesport Bowl Chase - persuading Carole's Legacy's owner/breeder, Paul Murphy, to run the mare in Sandown's Bet 365 Gold Cup, and finding a solution to Punchestowns' jumping issues.
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The pair finished second and last of six respectively behind winner Nacarat, following which Murphy said of Carole's Legacy: "That's it - the shoes are coming off. She'll be retired and visit [stallion] Kayf Tara. She's been a marvellous mare."
However, the Sandown race is very tempting, and Henderson said: "We know she's got to go to stud - this family has been fantastic to the Murphy clan and it's there to be preserved. It's great the line will be continued - it's the family of Mad Max and there's a young sister just about ready to run in a bumper.
"I'd love to run her again, but it's Paul's decision - I've probably got a bottle of red wine that will persuade him, but I'm not sure how good it's got to be!"
Of Punchestowns, Henderson said: "He's finding jumping fences very difficult at the moment. Barry said he missed the second and was just losing ground everywhere. His jumping is letting him down and we've got to think something is hurting him, but we've got the summer to iron that out. He won't run again this season."
FOLLOW THE PLAN BELIES HIS RATING
On ratings, Irish challenger Follow The Plan had no chance against the big boys in the £150,000 totesport Bowl, but Oliver McKiernan’s eight-year-old gave Tom Doyle a terrific spin round to finish an honourable third, just under 10 lengths behind the winner Nacarat.
Doyle said: “Follow The Plan won a Grade One as a novice, but in truth he is Grade Two or Grade Three horse, so this was a really good effort.
“He showed here that his Kinloch Brae Chase victory at Thurles in January was no fluke, and he was running a big race when he tipped up at the last in the Leopardstown Chase.
“It helped that he came here a relatively fresh horse and he loved the ground, and I was really proud of the way he kept battling.”
DENMAN ‘ABSOLUTELY FINE’ AFTER NOT ACTING ON TRACK
Denman, sent off the 5/4 favourite, finished fifth beaten nearly 25 lengths, and will now be put away for the summer.
Trainer Paul Nicholls reported: “He didn’t act on the track, which we half suspected, so Ruby [Walsh] looked after him.
“I said to him ‘go wide, skim a bit of daylight and see if you can get him back on the bridle and if he’s not acting look after him’, which he did. He didn’t give him a hard race and he’s absolutely fine.
“There was nowhere else for him to go until next November and Paul [Barber] likes to run them.
“I could see when he came round this bend [past the winning post] the first time that he wasn’t enjoying it. He gets on the wrong leg and then he’s in trouble. He’s fine in the straight and gets back into it but then he’s back in trouble again on the bend.
“I suppose we knew that beforehand, and all the experts will say that but he’s come back safe and sound and that’s the main thing. He’ll have a nice holiday turned out with the others and then we’ll think about next season.
Looking ahead to next season, Nicholls added: “In a lot of ways it will be quite hard to run in the Hennessy with top weight. Leopardstown might be an option - it suits him really well and a nice race to run him in might be the Lexus.
“We won’t make any plans yet, we’ll make sure he’s okay, turn him away and make a plan later in the year.”
