Thistlecrack still on course for King George after getting tired on Newbury return

Thistlecrack still on course for King George after getting tired on Newbury return

By Geoffrey Riddle
Last Updated: Tue 5 Dec 2023
Watch a full replay with analysis from Lydia Hislop and Steve Mellish of the Ladbrokes Long Distance Hurdle won by 40-1 chance Beer Goggles, reaction from connections and read Geoffrey Riddle's report from Newbury.
By Geoffrey Riddle at Newbury
It was a telling three seconds. Moments after Thistlecrack had trailed home fifth behind 40-1 party crasher Beer Goggles in the Ladbrokes Long Distance Hurdle at Newbury, Colin Tizzard was asked whether he thought his stable star could successfully defend his crown in the 32Red King George VI Chase at Kempton in three weeks.
It was a long pause, and the answer at the end of it was hardly convincing.
“You better watch after Christmas and find out, I don’t know that do I?”, the trainer said. “My job is to get them fit on any given day. He was late coming in and we thought we had done enough but that’s not race fit against these race fit horses.
“He did look burly. He ran a little bit fresh. We were absolutely right coming here before the King George. He is a big, heavy horse now and got tired in the last two furlongs.
“So long as he comes out of the race tomorrow we should be going to Kempton.”
Thistlecrack ran about 30lb below his best in finishing 13 lengths behind the 152-rated winner. Judged purely on the figures, there may be more to it than simply being undercooked for a race that connections felt, and underlined beforehand, he was in good shape for.
It was the nine-year-old’s first run since suffering a tendon injury after his defeat to the ill-fated Many Clouds at Cheltenham in January and he is now as big as 10-1 with Betfair for the highlight of the Christmas programme behind 2-1 favourite Might Bite.
Connections are adamant that, all being well in the morning, Thistlecrack heads to Sunbury on Boxing Day. It must be factored in that stable companion Fox Norton is still a possibility for Kempton, depending on how he performs in the Tingle Creek tomorrow week.
He would not be the first Tingle Creek runner to try his luck, and judging by how Tizzard spoke about the Shloer Chase winner at Cheltenham’s November meeting you would not put it past the Dorset handler trying to emulate the likes of Kauto Star in 2006 and Desert Orchid in 1988.
The double-figure prices about Thistlecrack are hardly beguiling for many, but Tom Scudamore remained upbeat and insisted his mount simply got weary.
“He felt full of beans and took me straight through the race and was very happy to be back on the track,” the jockey said.
“He just got tired going to the second last. Until that point he felt as good as ever, but he still has a hell of an engine.
“It is tough to come back from what he has had, but he acquitted himself well.
“The one thing you are looking for when you’ve had an injury like his, or some time off the track, is that they are still able to use themselves and do everything like before.
“Going to two out he felt as well as he had ever been. Normally, after two out, off he’d go in to his own little world and go 20 lengths clear, but he just got tired.
“The way he jumped and the way he went about it everything is still there and we have a few things to work on before Boxing Day.”
Regardless of the result, Thistlecrack did appear to have all of his verve and elan during the first two miles of the extended three-mile Grade Two contest. He clearly knew his job, and was calm in the preliminaries and walked around the parade ring as if he owned the place.
As soon as Richard Johnson took the lead aboard Beer Goggles, Scudamore had to master his partner, who was fresh during the early stages. Scudamore, who guided Thistlecrack to a six-length win in this race two years ago, kept his partner wide to allow a clear sight at his hurdles for his first attempt at the smaller obstacles since he won the 2016 Liverpool Stayers Hurdle.
Just before the straight Thistlecrack’s natural athleticism allowed him to dispute the lead with Beer Goggles but two out he lost second place and then he steadily went backwards, beating home only the disappointing Wholestone.
“It was great to have him back, and that is what it was all about. It is relief,” said owner John Snook.
“We’d like to have been closer, but Unowhatimeanharry was the horse we felt we had to beat, and he was beaten too.
“We came here to win, and coming into the straight Tom felt he could win quite comfortably but we weren’t going to beat the horse about today to be third, or whatever it may be. And I don’t think he would have been better than that.
“Unless something turns up wrong in three or four days, and stables have bugs and things so we’ll see, I was reasonably happy.
“It was a nice sensible race, he was able to see all of his hurdles and he jumped nice and cleanly. From that point of view we would be very happy.”
The most delighted person at Newbury was trainer Richard Wollacott, who ran a full 30 metres during the final stages of the race shouting his pride and joy home.
Beer Goggles fended off Unowhatimeanharry by two and a quarter lengths and will now skip a possible rematch with Unowhatimeanharry in the Long Walk Hurdle at Ascot on December 23 and instead be aimed at the Cleeve Hurdle at Cheltenham ahead of a possible tilt at the Stayers Hurdle, for which he is 25-1. Thistlecrack is 16-1.
"I'm flabbergasted, it is absolutely amazing," Wollacott said. "I said to Dickie [Johnson], 'do what you like, go and enjoy yourself'. It is incredible.
"We knew he would stay and would keep going and, touch wood, his jumping is good but to be honest with you we didn't think he was the class of that. When we bought him he was rated 104."
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