One of the most eagerly anticipated spectacles of the new jumps season appeared to be in the balance on Monday evening when it emerged that Coneygree, the Cheltenham Gold Cup winner, is a doubtful runner in the Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury a week on Saturday. Mark Bradstock’s chaser is reported to have spread a plate, and has been displaced as the Hennessy favourite in ante-post betting by Saphir Du Rheu.
Coneygree was the first novice to win the Gold Cup for 41 years when he made all the running to beat a high-class field at Cheltenham in March. The sight of an outstanding steeplechaser carrying a big weight in a handicap has also been an increasing rarity in recent years but Bradstock did not hesitate to nominate the Hennessy as Coneygree’s main target in the first part of the season. Coneygree’s attempt to emulate Denman, the 2008 Gold Cup winner, who landed the Hennessy under 11st 12lb in both 2007 and 2009, was expected to draw a huge crowd to Newbury on 28 November.
Coneygree made his first start since the Gold Cup in a race for second-season chasers at Sandown Park eight days ago, when he demolished his field in trademark fashion. He was promoted to a general price of 4-1 favourite for the Hennessy as a result, but was available at 6-1 on Monday evening with Saphir Du Rheu, an easy winner at Carlisle on his reappearance, the new favourite at odds ranging from 7-2 to 5-1.
The Racing Post reported on Monday evening that Sara Bradstock, assistant trainer to her husband, feels it is now “touch and go” whether Coneygree will be able to line up.
“Coneygree spread a plate on his left-hind foot this morning and it’s touch and go whether or not he’ll be able to run in the Hennessy,” Bradstock said. “It’s a bit like getting something under your fingernail, it’s very sore and quite painful but it can heal quite quickly, so we’ll have to wait and see if it improves over the next couple of days or if it’s something that needs to be poulticed over a longer period.
“We need to get a shoe on him by Thursday at the latest because we need to gallop him if he’s to be properly ready for Newbury. He’ll run if we can get him ready in time but we won’t be rushed in his preparation and we’ll know a lot more by the end of the week.”
If Coneygree is forced to miss the Hennessy, it would increase the chance he will line up for the King George VI Chase at Kempton Park on Boxing Day. He was a hugely impressive winner of the Grade One Feltham Novice Chase over the same course and distance last year, but would need to be supplemented for the Grade One race since he was left out of the original entries owing to what Bradstock described as “a computer glitch”.
Nicky Henderson, the trainer of Sprinter Sacre, said on Monday the brilliant winner of the Queen Mother Champion Chase in 2013 was “perky” the day after recording his first victory since April 2013 in the Shloer Chase at Cheltenham’s Open meeting. However, Henderson is in no rush to commit the gelding to the Grade One Tingle Creek Chase at Sandown in early December, where his stablemate Simonsig, who himself made a promising return to action recently after a long injury layoff, is a possible opponent.
“The Tingle Creek is not very far away, so I’d like to sit on that one,” Henderson said “ It’s the obvious place to go, but it doesn’t mean we have to. We’ll work backwards. There’s one race we really want to go for [the Champion Chase]. We want to be there in March.”
