Tag Archive for: Forward Plan

Forward Plan has Aintree aim for more handicap success

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Forward Plan will bid for a third big pot of the season at the Grand National meeting in April.

Anthony Honeyball admits to have been taken aback by just how effective the eight-year-old has been this term, winning a good prize at Doncaster and then being beaten a nose in the Great Yorkshire Chase before winning the £150,000 Coral Trophy at Kempton.

He now has his sights set on the £100,000 William Hill Handicap Chase on Grand National day at Aintree, April 13, a race the yard has fond memories of.

“Forward Plan goes to Aintree for the race Sam Brown won two years ago,” said Honeyball.

“When Sam won it it was the race before the National so we had an hour in the winning connections room, but the only thing was we probably didn’t get much exposure as they went straight into the build-up for the National!

Forward Plan and connections after winning the Coral Trophy Handicap Chase
Forward Plan and connections after winning the Coral Trophy Handicap Chase (Steven Paston/PA)

“Forward Plan has been a cracking little horse, he’s picked up about £120,000. We’ve dared to dream chucking him in big handicaps and he has kept on delivering.

“Last season we thought he had won his Gold Cup in a £20,000 race at Southwell but he has just improved and improved this season.

“The Badger Ales was a good place to start but the ground was softer than he liked, then he won a nice race at Doncaster and in between Doncaster and his Kempton wins he was beaten a nose in the Great Yorkshire Chase.

“Arguably the best ride Ben (Godfrey) has given him was that one too as everyone was sure the winner, Annual Invictus, had gone off too fast so he ignored him for much of the race, he beat the rest easily but to be fair to the winner he just found that little bit extra.

“The race at Kempton was worth more than the Ultima and there wasn’t one Irish entry. They probably think it comes too close to Cheltenham.

“He looked beaten two out, he’d lost his position down the back straight but he flew home. If he can win a third big pot it would be great, we’ll try and go to Aintree and if not it will be Punchestown.”



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Forward Plan swoops late to grab Coral Trophy

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Forward Plan came from the clouds to deny Al Dancer victory in the Coral Trophy Handicap Chase at Kempton.

Dylan Johnston was positive from the off aboard the grey Al Dancer, making full use of his 5lb allowance aboard the Sam Thomas-trained runner in the three-mile feature.

Despite looking a sitting duck at the top of the straight as half a dozen jockeys appeared to be travelling better than Al Dancer, one by one they began to come under pressure.

Flegmatik, Killer Kane, Bowtogreatness and Blackjack Magic were giving chase but approaching the last, Al Dancer appeared to have them all cooked.

Forward Plan (centre) still had plenty to do jumping the last
Forward Plan (centre) still had plenty to do jumping the last (Steven Paston/PA)

However, despite his chance seemingly having disappeared on jumping the second last, Forward Plan got a second wind and began to make ground and when he met the last running, he had momentum firmly on his side.

Anthony Honeyball’s charge, beaten just a short head in the Great Yorkshire Chase last time out, fairly flew up the run in and came home a comfortable length-and-a-quarter winner for Ben Godfrey.

“This race was always on the agenda for this lad and we were always going to go to Doncaster because we thought it would suit him and it did,” said Honeyball.

“We got beat a nose at Doncaster and you just think ‘are we going to get that chance again?’. But he is a horse who is just progressing nicely and our initial thought today was the going had gone too soft, but he’s proved he does go on it and today was three miles, rather than three-mile-two.

“Doncaster is definitely home games for him and we will be back here with him, that’s for sure. We were always working back from this and you can’t do anything about the weather.

“We were all geared up to run and he’s not going to run again until Aintree, so we thought if the ground is too soft today and that finds us out, at least we’ve got a nice race to go to in the spring where the ground might be better. Now it doesn’t matter what the ground is like at Aintree.

“He’s not very big, but he travels and he’s a handy horse who you can put where you want. I suppose he’s handy for races like this because he can travel away and he has a few gears. You have obviously got to be good enough to have a few gears and he had enough in reserve (stamina wise) to use them.

“Aintree will be next, the race we won with Sam Brown a few years ago.”

Ben Godfrey came in for plenty of praise
Ben Godfrey came in for plenty of praise (Steven Paston/PA)

Honeyball also reserved plenty of praise for Godfrey, who was celebrating the biggest success of his fledgling riding career.

He continued: “It’s one of the biggest wins of any jockey’s career, it’s a £150,000 race and in a handicap what is there worth more than that?

“Ben has been based with us since he claimed 7lb. He just knows the horses and is learning to be cool and calm in a race.

“He’s gaining some great experience in races like this and on this horse in particular and it’s really standing him in good stead. He’s finding himself in the right places quite often which is not an easy thing.”



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Honeyball has strong hand in Coral Trophy

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Anthony Honeyball has a trio of chances ready to line up in the valuable Coral Trophy at Kempton on Saturday.

Forward Plan heads the group, an eight-year-old last seen finishing just a nose behind Annual Invictus in the Great Yorkshire Chase at Doncaster.

Prior to that, he was a winner on Town Moor when taking the bet365 Handicap Chase over the same three-mile distance, his third victory in eight runs over fences, having only been out of the placings once.

He has now reached a career-high mark of 133, though Ben Godfrey’s 3lb claim eases his handicap allocation and he will run off a competitive 10st 9lb.

“Forward Plan goes quite well on any ground really,” said Honeyball.

“The best of our racing has been on goodish ground with him and our next race for him will be Aintree, so we feel like he’s ready for a race and we’ve got to have a go because it’s such a brilliant prize – it’s worth £25,000 more than the Ultima at the Festival.

“If we had our dream scenario, we would like slightly quicker ground, but he has a light weight, he’s one of the favourites after his run at Doncaster and we kind of feel duty bound to give the owners a chance to win it.

“He loves a bit of decent ground, but there’s no reason why, off a light weight, he can’t run well.”

Stablemate Blackjack Magic began his season in good form when taking the Badger Beer Chase at Wincanton and subsequently came home fourth in the Howden Silver Cup at Ascot.

Much of his best form is on testing ground and he is expected to appreciate the soft going at Kempton.

“Blackjack Magic has proven he is up to this class and he won the Badger Beer,” said Honeyball.

“He will love the soft ground and, in fact, the heavier the better for him, that will suit him a bit better than a couple of the races he has run in this season.”

Honeyball’s third runner is the veteran chaser Sam Brown, who carries a top weight of 12st under Jonathan Burke.

The 12-year-old has some valuable races on his CV and showed he was not losing his enthusiasm when landing the Veterans’ Chase Series Final at Warwick last month.

Sam Brown on his way to winning the Betway Handicap Chase during Grand National Day in 2022
Sam Brown on his way to winning the Betway Handicap Chase during Grand National Day in 2022 (David Davies/PA)

His age and the significant weight he carries may leave him an outside chance, but his trainer is not ruling out a good performance from the gelding.

Honeyball said: “He’s a big outsider at the minute, but that’s only because he’s 12 years old and rated 152 and there’s probably some stats that tell you that is a near impossible task.

“Is he going to win and go up to 156 or 157? It’s probably unlikely, but he is overpriced.

“There’s plenty in his favour, he will enjoy the ground and he doesn’t mind a competitive handicap. He can sit halfway and he has that turn of foot where if he can stay in the hunt approaching the business end, then he can quite come through with a decent surge.

“I don’t think it would be the biggest shock ever, but we have got to run him and hopefully there is another day in the sun for him – we’ve got to give him the chance.”

Ben Pauling has a live chance in Bowtogreatness, an eight-year-old jointly-owned by Harry Redknapp.

Ben Pauling's Bowtogreatness
Ben Pauling’s Bowtogreatness (Mike Egerton/PA)

The trainer enjoyed a three-timer at Ascot last weekend, along with jockey Ben Jones, but Bowtogreatness was not among his runners after a tracheal wash which caused connections to skip the meeting.

He will instead line up at Kempton for his third start of the season, after which he has one of his three Cheltenham Festival entries on the horizon.

“He’s in really good form with himself. He was supposed to go to Ascot last weekend, but just had a slightly average tracheal wash 10 days previous, so we decided to wait,” Pauling said.

“He was as clean as a whistle this week and worked well on Saturday, so I’m really looking forward to seeing how he runs.

“On his first run of the season, I left the ear plugs out and he just head-butted his fences round Newbury and didn’t jump well enough, then he went to Cheltenham and it was almost like his first run of the season really. He travelled into it very well and just blew up going to two out.

“I dare say he’ll be spot-on for Saturday and he’s a hardy horse that needs a lot of graft, so it’s very much the plan to get a proper run into him before going to the Festival.

“He’s in the Ultima, he’s in the Kim Muir and he’s in the National Hunt Chase at Cheltenham and how he goes on Saturday will tell us which race he’ll run in.”

At the head of the market is Dan Skelton’s Flegmatik, a winner over course and distance last time out, with Nicky Henderson’s Tweed Skirt and Chris Gordon’s Lord Baddesley also well fancied in a field of 12.



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Forward Plan triumph puts Godfrey in the spotlight

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Ben Godfrey was delighted to repay the faith put in him by Forward Plan’s connections as he rode the biggest winner of his career in the bet365 Handicap Chase at Doncaster.

Godfrey partnered Anthony Honeyball’s seven-year-old to three wins last season but none came close to matching the £26,000 first prize on offer on Town Moor.

Punters who had backed him at 6-1 never had a moment of worry in truth, as Godfrey cruised into contention as Mister Coffey and Whistleinthedark kicked on.

As soon as Forward Plan drew level, the race was as good as over, and he put it to bed in a matter of strides – possibly helped by the fact there were no fences in the straight, with them having been omitted due to the low sun.

Forward Plan had finished sixth behind stablemate Blackjack Magic in the Badger Beer Chase at Wincanton on his return and Godfrey felt that put him spot on for this.

Ben Godfrey explains to winning connections how he won
Ben Godfrey explains to winning connections how he won (Nick Robson/PA)

“He travelled really well, he’s only a little horse but he’s been holding his own in some nice races,” said Godfrey.

“He ran a really nice race in the Badger Beer and back down to three miles today, as opposed to the extended three, was a big help.

“I knew with the fences out he’d have a big turn of foot. I think that helped him, as he’s a nifty little horse, so when I pressed the button, he put the race to bed. He idled a little but stuck on gamely in the end.

“That’s my biggest win to date. He’s taken me to some nice Saturday races. We all need horses like that and he’s been great for me – and to win a big one on him feels good to be able to repay the faith the owners have in me and Anthony.”



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