Tag Archive for: Coral Hurdle

Blueking D’Oroux takes Coral Hurdle prize

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Blueking D’Oroux demonstrated his class with a taking victory in the Coral Hurdle at Ascot.

The four-year-old was sent off at 4-1 in a field of five, most of whom carried with them more experience and higher ratings than Paul Nicholls’ runner.

Harry Cobden bided his time, only asking the winner to throw down a challenge over the second-last and finding him comfortably able to go on and take the Grade Two by a length from Strong Leader.

“Beforehand I was looking at it and I thought we definitely need a career best today, but it wasn’t the strongest ever renewal of this race so you had to fancy him a bit and when Paul Nicholls lays one out for a race, he doesn’t normally miss,” said the winning rider.

“It was a great piece of training from the trainer and I was always going half a stride faster than I wanted to be, but I think that was down to the ground. He feels to me like the further he goes the better he is. I was just delighted with the horse and once he got there (to the front) he toughed it out well.

“He’s had a wind op and the rest is history really, he hasn’t stopped winning since. He’s improved every run and he’s only a four-year-old and it’s hard for a four-year-old to win a race like this, he’s very tough.

“I’ve just been speaking to Johnny (de la Hey, owner) and is it the boldest statement in the world to have a crack at the Stayers’ Hurdle? It probably isn’t the strongest division we have ever seen and I know he will need to improve a lot, but he’s kept impressing us every run and in some respects surprising me, because I wouldn’t have said 12 months ago he would be coming here and winning this race.

“Where else do you go with him? Because he’s going to be too highly rated for a handicap now and I presume four-year-olds with a lot or weight in those good races at Cheltenham and Aintree have quite a poor record. Maybe it is a Stayers’ Hurdle or something on those lines. I’m not saying he’s going to go there and set the world alight and win, but you have got to go somewhere and he’s just a likeable horse and I like the way he goes about the job.”

Goshen and Houlihan going for Coral Hurdle gold

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Goshen will have the assistance of Niall Houlihan when he defends his Coral Hurdle title at Ascot on Saturday.

Gary Moore’s seven-year-old has won two of his four starts over timber at the Berkshire track, including when landing this Grade Two event in supreme style 12 months ago.

He benefitted from the rerouting of Constitution Hill on that occasion and his handler is expecting a sterner examination of his stable stalwart this time around.

“Anywhere right-handed he seems to run well, particularly Ascot,” said Moore.

“He’s in good form with himself, but it’s going to be a little bit tougher than it was last year as you have horses on the up and he’s got a penalty this time.

“He’s been ready to run for a while now and hopefully he will be all right.”

Goshen has been partnered in all of his outings under National Hunt rules by the trainer’s son Jamie Moore. But with the 38-year-old on the sidelines with a bad injury suffered earlier this week, steering duties have been passed on to Houlihan.

Jockey Niall Houlihan will ride Goshen at Ascot
Jockey Niall Houlihan will ride Goshen at Ascot (Mike Egerton/PA)

A key member of the team at Moore’s Lower Beeding operation, the 23-year-old claimed Grade One glory aboard the stable’s Editeur Du Gite in the rearranged Clarence House Chase earlier in the year and now gets another golden opportunity.

“He’s got a different jockey to contend with,” Moore added. “But Niall has ridden him out a lot at home, especially in his younger days when he used to ride him out all the time, so it is only right he gets a go on him.”

Goshen finished just ahead of Nicky Henderson’s Theatre Glory when they clashed at Sandown at the end of last season, but the Canter Banter Racing team who own the six-year-old hope for a different outcome this time, rematching on a sounder surface.

“We’re very excited and she’s in great form,” said Katie Croft, co-founder of Canter Banter Racing alongside David Fehily.

Huntingdon Races – Tuesday November 9th
Theatre Glory is an improving hurdler (Tim Goode/PA)

“It is sort of a similar race to what she ran in at the end of last season (at Sandown). I think the ground was a bit soft for her in that last run at Sandown and it just slowed her down a bit.

“She was only beaten a length behind Goshen and I think the tables will turn this time hopefully on a bit better ground.

“I never say she is ground dependent, but I agree her best form is on quicker ground and she thrives flicking off that and we’re going there hopeful.”

Alan King got his hands on this prize with Yanworth in 2016 and will saddle evergreen 11-year-old Sceau Royal, while Paul Nicholls’ sole victory in this race came via Silviniaco Conti in 2010 and he could have an improving youngster on his hands this time in the form of Blueking D’Oroux.

The four-year-old was a winner at the track before going close in a competitive handicap at Aintree in the spring and seemed to take a huge leap forward with a commanding reappearance victory in Cheltenham’s Masterson Holdings Hurdle last month.

“He is highly progressive, a different horse since we gave him a wind op last season,” Nicholls told Betfair.

“I loved the way he won at Cheltenham last month and he will relish the step up in trip to two miles and three furlongs. While he has a bit to find on official ratings I’m expecting a big run from him.”

The field is completed by Ollie Murphy’s Strong Leader, who was a runner-up to Inthepocket in an Aintree Grade One last term, but bitterly disappointed when sent off favourite for the Welsh Champion Hurdle on his return.