We will never see another of his like - AP McCoy

Well one thing is for sure after this weekend and that is that horse racing will never be the same again after the retirement of the 19, soon to be 20, time champion jockey AP McCoy. Many following the sport have never known a different champion to AP and his time at the top of the sport, a sport where jockeys risk their lives day in day out and broken bones are part of the game, will never be matched. Let's hope that McCoy can go out on a high this season and have a few more big race winners before his time is up; it's the least a man who has given so much to the sport deserves.

20 time Champion Jockey AP McCoy bows out at the top of the sport

Action on the track

Back on the track and there were some cracking races the weekend from Newbury, Warwick, Exeter and Leopardstown for us to take in and for sure some big Cheltenham moves on the back of them. Let's start by checking out the Saturday cards

Saturday Sizzlers

Saturday saw the return to the track of the reigning champion chaser Sir De Grugy in the Game Spirit Chase however he was surprisingly beaten despite being sent off a warm favorite for the 2 mile Chase. He traveled well enough but didn't have the jumping too match and eventually unseated his pilot a few fences from home leaving Mr Mole free to take victory under the champion jockey.
The Champion Chase now rivals the Gold Cup in terms of openness as this was yet another failure from one of the head of the market for the Wednesday feature. SDG is now available at 7/1 whereas Mr Mole can still just about be found at 12's: Nicholls said post race that this was really MM champion Chase but didn't rule out the festival for this reformed character while Gary Moore confirmed SDG was still Prestbury Park bound with plenty of schooling to come before then. Don't rule out SDG at Cheltenham as he ran well enough before unseating, the one worry for me would be if it was his injury that led to the bad fencing though. I'm no expert in equine injuries but that concern would be enough to make me look elsewhere, the question is quite where!

Mr Mole and AP McCoy score in the Game Spirit, McCoy would announce his retirement soon after

A much more convincing case for a Cheltenham bet came from Coneygree in the Denman Chase as Mark Bradstock's pride and joy produced a display that the Tank himself would have been proud of to lead from pillar to post and score by 7 lengths. Such was the impressive nature of this performance that bookies slashed his Gold Cup odds into 8/1 from 20/1 pre race. Connections will have a huge choice now as to Coneygree's festival target as he is still a novice and has the RSA open to him; however the Gold Cup is the blue riband event of the festival and no doubt they will be tempted. After all he routed more experienced rivals here and as the old saying goes if you're good enough you're old enough...or something like that! History will be against him, the last novice to take the Gold Cup was Captain Christie back in 1974 but Coneygree is now 3/3 this season and his jumping belies his novice status. 8/1 in a wide open year...now that's a tempted.


I doubt we saw anything in the Betfair hurdle to keep Faugheen awake at night, as expected in the pre weekend preview blog I did, so let's just mention the impressive performance of Vibrato Valtat in the Kingmaker which saw him promoted to the position of 2nd favourite in the Arkle market in behind Un De Sceaux. The way the Arkle with be run, UDS blasting off in from, will actually suit this horse as he has to be delivered late in the day off a decent pace to be seen at his best as he was by Sam TD on Saturday and there are definitely worse e/w punts especially if you were on at his pre race Arkle price of 16/1!

Vibrato Valtat on the left at his best being produced late

Finally King's Palace won a 2 runner race but not without an jumping error or two in his round. He didn't enhance his festival claims but did enough to win and now heads to the RSA where, on previous form certainly, he holds leading claims.

Super Sunday!

Woof! The card hosted by Leopardstown on Sunday was absolutely top notch and we were reminded just how much we well miss McCoy as he gave some great rides on the day, most notably in the Hennessey Chase where he delivered Carlingford Lough to victory in a classic McCoy battling finish. The race looked really open before the off and on winning this ahead of rivals who will be Gold Cup bound Carlingford Lough has earned his chance in the showpiece event where he is a 10/1 chance. 
Lord Windermere put in an improved display and will line up with a chance of retaining his crown but most of the field will also have a live chance of taking it off him! Still nothing came out of this race that screamer winner like Silviniaco Conti does for me and the closer to March we get the more I like the chance of the market leader.


Bubbles were burst in the Deloitte Novices Hurdle as Nichols Canyon comfortably took the 2m 2f race ahead of the highly fancied Alvisio Ville, apparently the subject of heavy market support for the Neptune in March in the week leading up to this race. However he was very keen and didn't last the trip, so a drop back to 2 miles and the Supreme may be more up his street. The winner is now 8/1 for the Neptune, with Ruby saying afterwards he sees him as slightly more of a stayer, while I was pleased that Silver Concorde, who I think is overpriced for the supreme, put in a much improved performance than last time out. Don't rule him out on good ground in March.

Despite saying pre-race he'd love to be on Alvisio Ville Walsh defeated that horse on board Nichols Canyon

I think we may well have seen two horses who could fight out the JLT in the 2m5f novice Chase in Apache Stronghold, who appreciated the step back in trip having contested the Topaz lto, and Valseur Lido. The pair engaged in a right battle on the run in with Apache coming out on top by 1/2 a length at the line but both horses enhanced their reputations and head over the Irish Sea in March with leading claims.VL also has an RSA entry but after this race today I hope Willie does the right thing and puts Don Poli in that race as VL looked great at this trip.Don't put DP into the 4 miler please Willie!

Kalkir was sent off a short priced favourite for the opener on the card but it was another Mullins runner in the shape of Petite Parisienne who came out on top of a thrilling finish, the 7 lbs she received from Kalkir proving vital as she scored by just under 2 lengths. Willie said afterwards that both are Triumph bound and will demand market respect after fighting out the finish to a race that has produced many a triumph winner in its time. Vercingetorix was a disappointment and with the strength of the owners hand in this division he may well be Fred Winter bound now.


Elsewhere on Sunday Prince De Beauchene won a hot hunter Chase but as he is illegible for the Cheltenham version the Grand National could be more his target this season. Shocking news as Regal Encore finally won a race at Exeter, a hugely competitive handicap at that! And we saw Mullins shortie in Potters Point turned over in the concluding bumper to the Leopardstown card, however managed to keep the race in the family as David Mullins trained the winner!

A Willie Mullins 1-2 in the Leopardstown Opener

We must take a moment to send thoughts to the family of Hadden Frost after the jockey suffered a nasty fall at Exeter and had to be air lifted to hospital with a back injured. Hopefully Hadden's injuries aren't as bad as first feared and I pray he makes a full recovery.


That's all from me this week, plenty of top action and big news to absorb as we get nearer and nearer to the festival itself. Less that 30 days to go now, I can almost hear the famous roar that greats the runners in the Supreme!