Lacdoudal wins Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase
Paul Nicholls and others may battle for supremacy elsewhere at Cheltenham but the cross country course has become the near personal fiefdom for Enda Bolger.
Garde Champetre looked like he was coming with a late charge to give the trainer a sixth win in the Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase past seven years but Lacdoudal held on for Philip Hobbs and Richard Johnson.
The cross country course may not suit all horses but those who take to it are rarely out of contention and it was old stagers Heads Onthe Ground and Sizing Australia who led the field on their mazy run around the centre field of Prestbury Park. Heading back on to the racecourse proper, it was Lacdoudal who was getting the better of Sizing Australia. Behind the pair Nina Carberry had smuggled Garde Champetre through the field to come with a run at the final hurdle. However, he just could not claw back the lead that Lacdoudal had as he won by a neck.
In the grand scheme of things Johnson has ridden bigger winners than this and better horses than Lacdoudal. But this horse, who had not won since the Betfred Gold Cup at Sandown Park in 2006, is a real battler - on and off the course - having come back from more than his fair share of injuries and seen the vet so often that he probably qualifies for an invitation to the Christmas party. “He’s just a lovely horse, always tries, and he really enjoyed that because it’s something different out there,” Johnson said. “He’s had a couple of injuries and there’s not many horses that keep coming back like he does.”
Having finally got his head in front again Lacdoudal is likely to being seeing a fair bit of more of Cheltenham’s unique track. “I should think he’ll come back here for the cross country race in December, but he wouldn’t want the ground too soft,” Hobbs said. “We ran out of other options for Lacdoudal, so thought we’d try the cross country route. He was third here in March and this is his second run over those fences. It was unexpected to beat Garde Champetre, but we’re delighted.”
Nicky Henderson had reckoned that some of his horses were not quite as forward as he would have liked them going into the core part of the season. But Dave’s Dream has won first time out for the past three seasons and did so again in the paddypower.com Handicap Chase.
A former Imperial Cup winner as a hurdler, Dave’s Dream has perhaps not been quite the full package in his first season over fences but, following a wind operation, he breathed new life into hopes that he can still make an impact over birch as he beat Grand Lahou by eight lengths. “We were suspicious about his wind last year. We never heard anything desperately rasping but it was just a hunch and the wind operation has probably helped. He looked better there - he has won an Imperial Cup, so he has never been a mug - and I always thought that he might need a bit further than this.
“I just pray that the handicapper doesn’t murder him. That was impressive but I don’t know what he has beaten, so we will just have to wait and see.”
Henderson will be hoping to take even more of the sponsors’ money when he runs both Long Run and Mad Max in the Paddy Power Gold Cup. “Long Run and Mad Max are both, touch wood, in great nick and everything has been going well all week. They have worked and schooled and finished their preps. They actually had a spin together but that wasn’t to find out who was best.”
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