Hughie Morrison’s popular hurdler Secret Squirrel faces a long spell of recovery after sustaining a fractured lumbar vertebra when falling at Newbury earlier in the month.
The gelding, a smart performer with a distinctive flaxen mane and tail, suffered a heavy fall at the final flight in the William Hill Hurdle, coming down when challenging as the 100-30 favourite under Sean Bowen.
Both horse and rider got to their feet and Secret Squirrel cantered home loose, but he was not unscathed and was eventually sent to Donnington Equine Hospital to be assessed.
The vets there found he had suffered a fracture to his lumbar vertebrae, a serious injury that will require a significant amount of time to heal and leaves his future as a racehorse in some jeopardy.
The six-year-old is receiving the best possible care at Morrison’s Summerdown yard, where he is comfortable in his stable as he undergoes his convalescence.
Unfortunately, following his fall at Newbury, Squirrel suffered a fracture to the lumbar vertebrae in his back.
This means he’ll require a long period of box rest if he’s to fully recover.
Thankfully he seems comfortable and he is getting the best possible care and attention. pic.twitter.com/7UILBBAyLZ
“The fall he had at Newbury was not particularly nice, and it became apparent that evening that something wasn’t quite right when he returned to the yard,” the trainer said.
“We discovered quite quickly that there was a problem in the lumbar area, which suggested that there might be a fracture.
“We had to move him to Donnington for a scan and that confirmed a fracture to what I think is the L2 vertebra.
“We think he’s lucky to be alive, when the lumbar vertebrae are fractured that often means the spinal cord is involved and that means paralysis – I think he’s been very lucky.
“He’s very comfortable and bright, he’s moving around his box freely and happily. It’s all about the mending process now.
“He’s in the yard and he’s very happy and demanding carrots, he doesn’t seem to be in any pain, we just hope the healing process goes well.”
Hughie Morrison is going in search of more handicap glory with Secret Squirrel in the valuable William Hill Hurdle at Newbury.
The six-year-old took home the £57,000 on offer for winning the Fitzdares Sovereign Handicap Hurdle at Windsor last month and is eyeing another enticing pot with £87,000 on offer for the winner at the weekend.
Secret Squirrel was prominent at Windsor and despite hanging left at the business end of the race, he kept on strongly to lead home Paul Nicholls’ Kabral Du Mathan by two lengths.
He was well in contention when he he fell at the final flight in another valuable handicap at Ascot in December, and while Morrison feels Nicky Henderson’s Joyeuse and Alan King’s Favour And Fortune are obvious dangers he is hopeful his charge will post another strong performance.
Secret Squirrel, who has plenty of fans as a flashy chestnut with a flaxen mane and tail, will carry an extra 5lb for the Windsor victory.
Morrison said: “When you’ve got a good two-mile handicapper you basically follow the money don’t you?
“You follow the races. Windsor wasn’t the original plan, but when we saw the attraction of the prize-money, which was more than Cheltenham, we went to Windsor.
Hughie Morrison is chasing another valuable pot at Newbury (John Walton/PA)
“We’re realistic. If you win one of those you’ve done well, you don’t usually win two.
“He chased the pace too much there (at Ascot) and as a result ran very well before he fell. Hopefully he is in as good a form.
“There seems to be a few more lurkers I think I would say in the terminology of the betting fraternity, whether it’s Nicky or Alan. They look to be laid out for this race. We haven’t been laid out.
“We love him so dearly we just want to take him home and ride him around the field. I don’t think there are any particular plans after this.
“It’s one race at a time and after Saturday afternoon he would have had three hard races and we’ll take a view after that.”
Tom Symonds hopes a return to his favourite racecourse will play into the hands of Navajo Indy.
Navajo Indy (front left) on their way to winning at Newbury (Adam Davy/PA)
The six-year-old has won twice and finished second on three previous trips to the Berkshire circuit and came home one and a half lengths clear of Queens Gamble on his last visit in the Gerry Feilden.
Symonds has elected to fit Navajo Indy with cheekpieces to keep him concentrating following his fourth-place finish behind Secret Squirrel last time out at Windsor.
He said: “We’re going back to Newbury, where obviously he has run some of his best races.
“We’re hoping the ground is a bit softer which it sounds like it is going to be.
“We’ve put cheekpieces on, just to make sure early on in the gallop we don’t get into the same position that we did at Windsor. It’s obviously a very different track. I hope it will give him the opportunity to travel early and finish strongly.
“He’s been progressive and we’ve enjoyed the ride so far and I’m hoping he can still be progressive, but we’re under no illusions.
“He can run very well and sit in this race. He was very good in the Gerry Feilden and has constantly surprised us, so let’s hope he continues to do that.”
Tom Symonds is keen to see how good Navajo Indy can be over two miles (Mike Egerton/PA)
Navajo Indy won a novice hurdle at Bangor on his first run of the season following an extended break and the form stacks up from that race with Gamesters Guy, Brockarno and Land Of Moon subsequently having gone on to win.
Symonds added: “That race has thrown up plenty of winners as has the Gerry Feilden, so the form looks quite strong and it was very nice to have the gap from the Gerry Feilden to the Windsor race so he’s a fresh horse and let’s hope that’s a boon to his chances on Saturday.
“We’re on a mission to find out what he can do over two miles because I do see the horse as staying further, but we’ll see what he can do on a track that he’s done well at and we’ll go from there really. That’s the plan.”
https://www.geegeez.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/278716416-scaled.jpg12802560Geegeez Newshttps://www.geegeez.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/geegeez_banner_new_170x78.pngGeegeez News2025-02-07 15:22:022025-02-07 15:22:02Morrison making no Secret of Squirrel’s Hurdle hopes
A week ago, I sat down at this keyboard wondering who were the lunatics that thought staging the inaugural so-called Berkshire Winter Million over the following weekend was a viable project, writes Tony Stafford. The frost stood outside like snow on the whole of my car and temperatures had plunged to minus 5 degrees overnight.
Also, Ascot’s recent record with its mid-January Saturday fixture was hardly encouraging, the last two having been frozen off. The money on offer for the two days on the Riverside Royal racecourse and the sandwiched-in Ascot date was terrific, yet by and large the Irish left us to our own devices: they clearly thought the odds were against its going ahead.
But they, like most of the UK racing fanbase, starved of jumping for much of the previous week or so, were to be confounded.
Windsor has the luxury of wide swathes of turf that are relatively lightly worked all year, those Monday night cards giving the racecourse staff plenty of time between fixtures to repair the effect of pounding hooves.
The worry, having seen the first jumps fixture since Windsor briefly took over some Ascot cards when that racecourse was having its drastic and by now (if not at first) accepted to have been beneficial, not least to racegoers, transformation almost two decades ago, was the layout of the circuit.
Talking to Hughie Morrison on the Friday morning, he said he wasn’t convinced by it, but like trainers of the other 13 runners in the £110k - £57,000 to the winner Fitzdares-backed handicap hurdle - he was prepared to give it a go. He believed his family horse Secret Squirrel was “very well handicapped, but maybe not quite tough enough for a race of this nature”.
I was on a train, travelling back from four brilliant days with Victor Thompson at his superb Link House Holiday Cottages 100 yards from the beach in Northumberland, so didn’t see the race live, but I have since. That was the beach, maybe a mile away across the bay at Beadnell, where Gordon W Richards, father of Nicky, began his own training career in the 1960’s before transferring across country to Greystoke.
Back at Windsor, Hughie needn’t have worried. Indeed, far from being overawed by tackling much more experienced rivals, 11/4 favourite Secret Squirrel gained control over Knickerbocker Glory at the final hurdle and gradually pulled clear to the line, without Nico de Boinville needing to pick up his stick. You would imagine the William Hill Newbury Hurdle at Hughie’s home track in three weeks would be the next objective.
Secret Squirrel was bred by and runs in the colours of the Hon. Mary Morrison, Hughie’s wife, and is a son of Stimulation. Hughie trained Stimulation to win the Group 2 Challenge Stakes over 7f on the flat and supported him as a stallion throughout his time at Llety Farms, a 250-acre spread in Carmarthenshire, run by David Hodge.
On the flat, Stimulation’s best produce has been the staying mare Sweet Sensation, whom Hughie trained to win the Cesarewitch for Paul Brocklehurst. After Friday, Secret Squirrel will have become the sire’s outstanding jumper. Llety Farms have for now given up standing stallions and Stimulation has been sold and been based in Kuwait for the past two years.
Hughie and Mary had a day to remember as a few minutes later at Market Rasen, their recent acquisition Eyed added a second win on the course for the stable. In between he was unsighted going to the first fence at Lingfield where he unluckily came down. Eyed could also be on a steep upward curve as a three-mile chaser.
Back to last week, and I had suggested it was lunatics that framed the Berkshire Winter Million. On the same day as the two Morrison winners, one horse that was sold from the yard for 27,000gns last autumn almost made a winning debut for his new connections an hour or so earlier at Meydan. Lunatick – yes, that’s how they spelt it – got within a neck of bagging the £24k opener on the card, his strong finish thwarted only by Silvestre de Sousa on a 33/1 shot.
While with Victor the other day, preparing for what I believe (well, perhaps hope) will be a compelling book, we had a trip around the area near Newton-by-the-Sea and as far south as Lynmouth and Amble on the coast, seeing the sites where he was King of the Sea Coal industry for decades until the mines packed up. On the way, every few miles there were pockets of houses (amounting in total almost to one hundred): “we built those”, he said.
Then, on the way back for a late lunch at his beloved Purdy Lodge, where they serve the world’s biggest all-day breakfast – not that he or partner Gina Coulson partake – we took in the village of Felton, where in the 1980s he added farming to the strings of his very wide-ranging bow, acquiring four (three now sold) farms totalling 3,750 acres. He removed all the hedges and quickly became the leading corn grower in Northumberland.
As he mused at the time, “If farmers can farm, why not me? It can’t be that difficult, if you are prepared to work; and all the Thompsons worked!” Until you drive along with Victor’s former farms on either side of the road seemingly on and on for miles – 3,750 acres is almost six square miles! – you realise what a massive undertaking that was. When you consider Llety Farms is 250 acres and many would regard that as a sizeable plot.
It all makes me feel tired! Luckily, I managed to upgrade to a First-Class seat on the way back from Alnmouth (319 miles to London), elected for sausage and mash over a lamb rogan josh and arrived home in okay shape. I didn’t feel it until Saturday evening when for once I slept right through!
The Irish challenge on Friday was restricted to a duo of Gavin Cromwell runners in lesser races and both finished in the money. Same again, two runners, on Saturday. This time it was Willie Mullins, chancing his arm, again, with one-time invincible Energumene, against Jonbon in the Clarence House Stakes; but the Nicky Henderson horse cantered home and will go to Cheltenham as a hotpot for the Queen Mother Champion Chase.
Willie sent over a travel companion for his old champion, no doubt thinking 2/5 shot Kargese, last year’s Triumph Hurdle runner-up, would have a walk in the Royal park. That mare had to give best though to Dan Skelton’s improver Take No Chances who came out on top under Kielan Woods, by three-parts of a length.
Then to yesterday. Here we had to be a little more cautious as among five raiders, two from the more readable Henry de Bromhead in terms of expectation, there were three from less predictable sources.
We all know about back-with-the-licence Tony Martin. The form of his Zanndabad suggested he ought to be among the principals in the 2m4f novice handicap hurdle, but he faded in the home straight, proving correct his trainer’s fears about the soft ground.
Then it was the turn of Charles Byrnes, of whom you can never be sure until the money’s down. And maybe not even then.
Byrnes, like Martin, had a ban recently, but it doesn’t seem to have altered his way of going about his training. He had two runners, one a newcomer in the bumper for whom there was pre-race interest and another in the immediately preceding novice handicap hurdle.
That horse’s three runs this season had been 8th at 33/1, last of 17 at 33/1 and pulled up at 20/1. Despite this, serious money followed him in the 3m4f handicap chase into 9/1. He ran a respectable race in third behind 25/1 shot Planned Paradise, trained by long-distance expert Christian Williams. Watch out Eider Chase!
Byrnes was also on the premises in fourth in the closing bumper, won by winner-a-day over the weekend Harry Fry with Idaho Sun, who looks a very smart performer.
The Irish horses generally ran well, but none from nine was their winning tally over the weekend. So well done to the home trainers and to the organisers, Arena Racing. Even if Ascot is not in their ownership grouping, they do show its racing on their Sky Sports Racing channel. I think it’s fair to say you’ve proved so many of us wrong!
- TS
https://www.geegeez.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Jonbon_ClarenceHouseChase_Ascot_2025.jpg319830Tony Staffordhttps://www.geegeez.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/geegeez_banner_new_170x78.pngTony Stafford2025-01-20 08:11:522025-01-20 08:11:52Monday Musings: The Lunatics Prove Me Wrong!
Secret Squirrel secured the major prize he has long promised in the Fitzdares Sovereign Handicap Hurdle at Windsor.
Hughie Morrison’s charge stands out from the crowd being a flaxen chestnut, meaning his mane is virtually blonde.
The six-year-old has plenty of ability too, as evidenced by four previous wins and a number of fine efforts in defeat in good company.
Having kicked off his campaign by finishing third at Ascot, Secret Squirrel was well fancied for the valuable Ladbrokes Handicap Hurdle at the Berkshire circuit’s pre-Christmas meeting and was still in contention when falling two flights from home.
He was an 11-4 favourite to bounce back in this £110,000 handicap and after travelling strongly under Nico de Boinville, Morrison’s runner quickened up despite looking ungainly on the run-in to score by two lengths from Kabral Du Mathan, who narrowly beat Knickerbockerglory to the runner-up spot.
Morrison told ITV Racing: “He’s an extremely attractive horse and his grandfather is Double Trigger. He’s a very good horse.
“The day he was born he’d walk up to you and knock you over. We broke him in almost as a yearling as he was such a pain at home.
“We usually do well here on the Flat but we don’t often run for £58,000! They should get rid of the Flat and just have jumping as you’ll get a good crowd.”
Secret Squirrel (centre) left jumps the final flight (Bradley Collyer/PA)
De Boinville, partnering Secret Squirrel for the first time, told Sky Sports Racing: “David Bass has ridden him in the past and he has given me a few pointers. He’s a hardy horse who knew what he was doing, handled the ground and travelled, which was the main thing.
“He’s got his own mind and it’s just a case of working with him rather than against him. I thought he jumped great and I’m just very lucky to come in for the ride.”
Coral make Secret Squirrel their 6-1 favourite from 16-1 for the newly-named William Hill Hurdle at Newbury on February 8.
https://www.geegeez.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/278716416-scaled.jpg12802560Geegeez Newshttps://www.geegeez.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/geegeez_banner_new_170x78.pngGeegeez News2025-01-17 16:21:002025-01-17 16:21:00Secret Squirrel reigns in Sovereign success
Not So Sleepy made all for victory in the Dubai Duty Free Autumn Cup Handicap at Newbury on what is likely to be his final racecourse start.
The 12-year-old has been an enduring star for trainer Hughie Morrison and owner Lady Blyth, winning six times both on the Flat and over hurdles.
His jumps successes include two Fighting Fifth Hurdles, sharing the Grade One glory in a dead heat with Epatante at Newcastle in 2021 before claiming on outright victory in a rearranged renewal at Sandown last December.
Not So Sleepy with owner Lady Blyth and jockey Sean Bowen after his Fighting Fifth win at Sandown (John Walton/PA)
Not So Sleepy had been due to sign off in the Ebor at York last month but with quick ground scuppering that plan, he was rerouted to this one-mile-five-furlong contest – an event he also won last term.
With the heavy ground in his favour, Not So Sleepy was sent off a 10-1 shot in the hands of Tom Marquand, who had him smartly away and bowling along in front.
It looked as though the challengers were lining up behind turning into the straight and while Not So Sleepy was headed by Our Golden One, he rallied in fantastic style to get back in front and kept finding for Marquand all the way to the line.
Not So Sleepy eventually came home one and three-quarter lengths clear of Chillingham, much to the delight of his owner.
She said: “That was brilliant, just brilliant. Like last year, just when it looked like they were getting the better of him he came right back at them.
“It’s an option to carry on but I think we are going to stop while we are ahead.
“The trouble is we’re not quite sure what we can do with him. There’s no hunting any more and he’s so independent, but I think this is definitely it.”
Morrison admitted his confidence had been enhanced by the testing conditions in Berkshire.
Not So Sleepy (right) winning the Dee Stakes at Chester (Martin Rickett/PA)
He said: “Basically he always does it on this ground and I said to Tom ‘don’t go too far in front, but don’t let them get too far ahead of you when they join you’, because I knew he would come back to them.
“He’s actually quite easy to train, he goes out first every morning and after 50 yards off he goes.
“And he’s a charming horse in his box, to the extent that a child could ride him.”
Not So Sleepy added a further £36,000 to his prizemoney total, having amassed over £600,000 during a 69-race career that began at Nottingham in October 2014.
Morrison pinpointed that first maiden win as a personal highlight, along with victory in the Listed Dee Stakes at Chester the following year, although the trainer is certain his Newcastle result against Champion Hurdle winner Epatante represented his career best effort.
Not So Sleepy (right) shared Grade One honours with Epatante at Newcastle (Tim Goode/PA)
He added: “Looking back, I enjoyed the day he first won when I watched it in the Green Room at Tattersalls. Then there was the Dee Stakes in which he beat a strong field including a good horse from Ireland (Smuggler’s Cove).
“But I think his best performance was when dead heating with Epatante giving her 7lb at Newcastle. That was the best of them all, for sure.
“It’s good that he has quite a big fan club and I know that once he’s out of the racing scenario, he will be more relaxed.”
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Hughie Morrison is keen to confine the events of last year’s Cairn Community Games Pretty Polly Stakes to the history books as Stay Alert prepares for a second tilt at the Curragh Group One on Saturday.
The Fastnet Rock filly was a 25-1 shot 12 months ago off the back of finishing fifth in York’s Middleton Stakes, but outran her odds and then some to finish second.
Stay Alert was beaten two lengths by George Boughey’s Via Sistina, but that told only half the story, with the winner hanging right and impeding the runner-up and a number of other horses to such an extent that connections felt it was worth lodging an appeal, which was ultimately unsuccessful.
— The Curragh Racecourse (@curraghrace) July 1, 2023
Morrison’s charge failed to trouble the judge in three further outings in 2023, but having kicked off the new campaign with an impressive victory in Newmarket’s Dahlia Stakes, beating subsequent Royal Ascot heroine Running Lion, she heads back across the Irish Sea as a major player.
When asked whether he felt he had a score to settle in the Pretty Polly, Morrison said: “I don’t think one ever wants to do that in sport or think that way. Time heals and we move on.
“She’s done herself well and has done very well since she ran. My concern always is whether I’ve done enough with her, but travel can refine them down a bit and we’re just hopeful that she’ll run her race, perform to the levels she did at Newmarket and we’ll see how good she is.”
Hughie Morrison at Newmarket following Stay Alert’s latest victory (John Walton/PA)
Stay Alert is part of a formidable British challenge which also includes Ralph Beckett’s runaway Middleton Stakes winner Bluestocking and John and Thady Gosden’s dual Group One winner Emily Upjohn.
Morrison added: “I think both times she’s gone over to Ireland, I feel I may have left a gallop short. It’s been quite dry in the last two weeks, so I haven’t overworked her.
“If Emily Upjohn turns up as she was as a three-year-old or when winning the Coronation Cup last year we’ll have to be very good to beat her, and Bluestocking on the formbook looks exceptional as well.
“Stay Alert doesn’t always retain her form throughout the season, but she seems happy in herself and Running Lion’s victory last week gave us a bit of hope.”
Emily Upjohn and Frankie Dettori winning last year’s Coronation Cup at Epsom (Mike Egerton/PA)
Emily Upjohn has run twice so far this year, finishing fifth in the Dubai Sheema Classic at Meydan in March before being beaten into fourth when defending her Coronation Cup crown at Epsom.
John Gosden believes she is ready to return to her best in Ireland, saying: “I think in fairness to her, we trained her in the winter to go to Dubai and it doesn’t agree with a lot of fillies, so then I let her down afterwards through April and she really did herself well.
“I was having a little trouble getting her back in the zone again and she very much needed her race in the Coronation. She was carrying plenty of weight and condition, but she worked well on the July Course the other day so we’ll head there (Curragh) for what looks like a very competitive edition of the Pretty Polly.”
Bluestocking could hardly have been more impressive at York last month and Beckett is looking forward to seeing her return to the highest level.
He said: “It’s all systems go all, all things being equal. She’s in good shape, I’ve been very pleased with her since York.
“We were keen to stick with running against our own sex and this is what the race was written for, these fillies turning up to take each other on and we’re looking forward to doing exactly that.
“It appears she’s not (ground dependent) anymore, as she’s got older it appears not. There are plenty of fast ground elements in her pedigree and she’s a good moving filly.”
Sir Mark Prescott’s new recruit Tasmania and Charlie Johnston’s outsider Francophone also travel from Britain, with Joseph O’Brien’s pair of Lumiere Rock and Maxux and his father Aidan’s Content making up the home team.
O’Brien senior said of Content, last seen finishing eighth in the Coronation Stakes over a mile at Royal Ascot: “We’re running her back quick. She’s just not really 100 per cent doing things right yet, she’s been a little bit keen so we’ve backed up the races a little bit quick.
“She wasn’t bad the last day and up to a mile and a quarter will help her, she’ll get more time to relax and breathe.
“It will be interesting how far she will stay, and will she get the trip. She is in good form since Ascot. She wasn’t beaten too far in the fillies’ race at Ascot and seems to have come out of it well.”
Stay Alert stayed on strongly and delivered a decisive blow in the William Hill Dahlia Stakes at Newmarket.
With the six-strong line-up separating into two groups, David Egan was content to bide his time aboard Hughie Morrison’s five-year-old, as Heartache Tonight led from Running Lion on her side of the track.
Running Lion – seeking a win on this card for the second year running – moved up alongside Heartache Tonight and breezed to the front with half a mile to run and jockey Oisin Murphy seemed determined to break the spirits of her rivals as they entered the final quarter mile.
However, the petrol tank of 6-4 favourite ran out when meeting the rising ground with Stay Alert perfectly placed to take advantage, picking off Running Lion and galloping on to a three-and-a-half-length victory at odds of 5-1.
Morrison said: “We looked after her as a young horse and tried not to run her on fast ground as she’s quite heavy topped, but she’s always had a serious engine.
“The family has always stayed so we imagined she’d get a mile and a half, but I’d probably say a mile and a quarter is her perfect trip now.
“She was going to be retired, but Ben and Sir Martin (Arbib, owners) decided at the last minute they’d have another go. I actually said they ought to retire her because she’s such a beautiful broodmare prospect. I’m very sorry they aren’t here, but I’m sure they’ll be thrilled.
“David said he was always going to pick up the other filly (Running Lion), he just didn’t want to go for it in the dip. I said to him ‘if you’re in contention hitting the rising ground, you’ll win’.
“I suppose the obvious race to run in is the Pretty Polly (Curragh), in which we were a very unlucky second last year, but she does want decent ground.
“We’ll probably aim pretty high now, we’ll probably look at entering her in the Eclipse and races like that because if it’s soft in Ireland you probably want to go for the Eclipse.
“On her day she’s a very good horse and you’ve got to look at everything. I’m a great believed five-year-olds have an advantage over four-year-olds as they must improve.”
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Hughie Morrison has expressed his disappointment after Constitution Hill was ruled out of the Unibet Champion Hurdle, despite his absence elevating Not So Sleepy to become the leading British contender for the Cheltenham Festival’s opening day feature.
Hopes of National Hunt’s flagship horse making the start line were dashed on Monday when Nicky Henderson announced blood test results showed the defending champion had not recovered sufficiently enough from a respiratory infection to line up in the Cotswolds.
That leaves the 12-year-old Not So Sleepy to fly the flag for the home team as he makes his fifth appearance in the Champion Hurdle – having previously finished no better than fifth.
Owner Lady Blyth and jockey Sean Bowen in the winner’s enclosure with Not So Sleepy (John Walton/PA)
He heads to Prestbury Park in rude health, having claimed the rearranged Fighting Fifth when last sighted.
But far from seeing Constitution Hill’s absence as a positive in Not So Sleepy’s claims for big-race glory, Morrison is regretful that the Seven Barrows superstar will be sitting on the sidelines during the biggest week of the season.
“I’m actually quite disappointed Constitution Hill is not turning up,” said Morrison.
“I don’t think I should be excited really and I’m quite disappointed. At the end of the day, we want the best to be there and the best probably isn’t going to be there. We would have liked to have taken him on – you always want to take on the best.
“Let’s hope we now get there in one piece.”
With Constitution Hill out of the picture and State Man now the heavy odds-on favourite with the layers, it is Not So Sleepy who is the shortest-priced British-trained Champion Hurdle contender, with the veteran a 14-1 chance with Paddy Power.
However, Morrison is still processing his charge’s position in the reformed market and is more worried about seeing some rain appear in the weather forecasts ahead of his big date on Tuesday week.
“I hadn’t really thought of it that way, but I’m just delighted to have something with good reason to be going there really,” said Morrison, when asked about the responsibility of being Britain’s number one hope.
Hughie Morrison will saddle Not So Sleepy in the Champion Hurdle (John Walton/PA)
“On his day, he’s a really good horse and he deserves to be there – on a good day, he should be in the money. Over the years, he has run four times in the Champion Hurdle and has run reasonably well, but I’ve always thought I could have had him better.
“We are there to do our best and we’re slightly concerned about the weather forecast looking dry all week, but hopefully the rain will reappear at the weekend for us.
“Racehorses always give you sleepless nights, especially when they are 12 and they have got a few miles on the clock. There is always something creeping round the corner, as Nicky Henderson knows.
“Hopefully we can get him there in good nick but I would like a bit of rain to give us a chance.”
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Hughie Morrison is eyeing a first tilt at Ascot’s Gold Cup this summer for his star stayer Quickthorn.
The seven-year-old won the Group Three Henry II Stakes at Sandown and a Group Two in France a couple of seasons ago, before registering a stunning 14-length victory in the Lonsdale Cup at York.
He produced a similarly dominant front-running display to lift the Goodwood Cup last term – and while Morrison has doubts about his stamina, he is happy to give him his chance in the Royal meeting’s two-and-a-half-mile showpiece in mid-June.
“Quickthorn is back in and has done well over the winter. He came in earlier actually because he was a bit naughty at home, possibly because it’s been so wet,” said the trainer.
“He’s started cantering and although I’m not convinced he’ll stay the Gold Cup trip, I think we’ll have a go at it this year. He’s another year older and the older they are, the further they’ll stay.
“That will be our main target this year and I might be tempted to wait and give him his first run at Sandown (Henry II Stakes).
“We seem to get three or four months out of him and that’s it really, so we possibly don’t want to start too early, but we’ll play it by ear.”
Another horse for whom Morrison holds top-level aspirations is Stay Alert, who ran in Group One company on four occasions last season, with her best effort being a runner-up finish behind Via Sistina in the Pretty Polly Stakes at the Curragh in July.
Morrison added: “The owner has decided to have another go with Stay Alert, which is exciting. She’ll be campaigned in those mile-and-a-quarter fillies’ races on genuine good ground.
“We’ve also got Mistral Star, who was second in a Listed race last season, and I’ll be disappointed if she doesn’t win a Group race this year.”
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Hughie Morrison reports Not So Sleepy to be firmly on course for next month’s Unibet Champion Hurdle after going up the Lambourn gallops “like a rocket” on Wednesday morning.
The mud-loving veteran has won 11 times over jumps and on the Flat combined, most recently proving the fire still burns bright despite his advancing years when claiming Grade One honours in a rescheduled Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Sandown in December.
Morrison has since given his 12-year-old a winter break and is now beginning to turn the screw ahead of what will be his fifth tilt at Champion Hurdle glory in just under three weeks’ time.
“I went away last week and I came back and thought he was looking rather fat, which is a good sign because you want them to be doing well,” said the trainer.
“Over the last year or 18 months we’ve taken him to Lambourn the odd time, because we’ve been snowed in or something like that, and he actually had a nice gallop in Lambourn this morning.
“Thanks to the people in Lambourn who accommodated us, he had a spin up The Long gallop and he went up there like a rocket.”
Not So Sleepy was pulled up in his first Champion Hurdle four years ago and has finished fifth in the last three renewals, twice behind Honeysuckle and once behind Constitution Hill.
Hughie Morrison at Sandown (John Walton/PA)
With Constitution Hill and last year’s runner-up State Man again set to be in opposition, Morrison is under no illusions about the task facing his charge on March 12, but he is happy to roll the dice and will be praying for testing conditions on the opening day of the Cheltenham Festival.
“I’m sure they will start quivering in their boots when they hear Sleepy is running,” he joked.
“We’d like a day like today on Tuesday March 12! Hopefully we get wet ground to make it hard work so the speed horses can’t quicken away from him. We also need Constitution Hill and State Man probably to have a day off.
“We are realistic, but at this moment in time I’m very happy with him.”
He added: “He’s lucky he’s not in a Willie Mullins or Gordon Elliott yard as he probably wouldn’t be running, would he? He’d be running in a County Hurdle or being saved for an egg and spoon race the week before or something.
“I know that sounds cynical, but I think the interest in Cheltenham is waning a bit because of the monopolisation. When you watch the Grand National weights yesterday, I found that deeply depressing.”
https://www.geegeez.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/274802592-scaled.jpg12802560Geegeez Newshttps://www.geegeez.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/geegeez_banner_new_170x78.pngGeegeez News2024-02-21 13:56:282024-02-21 13:56:28Morrison not shying away from Champion Hurdle challenge with Not So Sleepy
It’s only about ten weeks ago that I went through the lengthy career of Not So Sleepy, writes Tony Stafford. Of course, any time in competition for a racehorse that began with a win as a juvenile nine years before is unusual. Even more remarkable was Saturday’s romp to victory in the Grade 1 Betfair Fighting Fifth Hurdle, a race switched from Newcastle the previous weekend to Sandown.
This was Not So Sleepy’s fourth run in the race and his second triumph although he had to share the previous one in 2021 with Epatante, the pair impossible to separate in a dead-heat.
The previous year, Sleepy messed about at the start and unseated his rider soon after, prompting winner Epatante’s trainer Nicky Henderson to become paranoid about what the veteran Hughie Morrison gelding might get up to at the start in subsequent meetings.
He needn’t have worried. Last year when Constitution Hill came into the picture for his first Fighting Fifth on the way to that explosive Cheltenham Champion Hurdle success, Not So Sleepy was no problem.
I spoke to Hughie on Saturday morning, and it was he that alerted me to Henderson’s withdrawal soon after 8 a.m. of Constitution Hill. Also, it stopped the hastily changed plan for Shishkin, denied a run in the Rehearsal Chase that day at Newcastle, a week on from his standing stock still at the start at Ascot.
Hughie said, “Can you believe he’s the outsider of the four that are left? When I looked at the prices, he wasn’t just the outsider, but a double-figure price.”
The opposition included two mares. One, Love Envoi, is rated higher than the Morrison horse and, like the other, You Wear It Well, a Cheltenham Festival winner and fit from a recent winning comeback, they received 7lb from their two male rivals. They took the bulk of the market.
Then there was Goshen, back on his favoured right-handed way of going but hardly the most reliable. The ground was heavy, and as Hughie said, “That will be no problem for us!” And how.
Goshen had a 1lb higher rating over jumps than Not So Sleepy, but they met as recently as October in the Cesarewitch when the Morrison horse, trying in the race for the fourth time, finished seventh, 30 lengths ahead of the tailed-off Goshen. His flat-race mark of 101 exceeds Goshen’s by 15 lb, and how far did they finish apart at level weights on Saturday? - just about 15 lengths.
https://youtu.be/CmZfLDs_FYo?si=FAYdUn4tMCcf8YMU
In 66 races since 2014, Not So Sleepy has raced six times on official heavy ground. In his three-year-old season he was third in a Group 3 race in France on such going, and next time, four years on, was second in a Nottingham handicap.
Further investigation, though, should have alerted me to what must have been one of the bets of the year [they often are with hindsight – Ed.] without the Henderson horses to complicate matters.
These are the results, the last four times he has encountered a heavy surface: December 21, 2019, Ascot Grade 3 Handicap Hurdle 85k 1st of 13, by nine lengths, 9/2 JF; December 19, 2020, Ascot Grade 3 Handicap Hurdle 57k 1st of 17 from Buzz, 20/1; September 23, 2023, Newbury 1m5f handicap off 98, 36k, made all 15/2. Then on Saturday where he bolted up by eight lengths from Love Envoi with the other pair battling for third a similar distance back, he earned owner-breeders Lord and Lady Blyth another 45 grand!
In his last ten races, he has earned his owners around 170 grand and only twice in that spell has he started at shorter than 10/1, including Saturday. His average SP in those races has been 42/1!
As I say, the bet of the year! Hope Hughie had a bit on!
What is remarkable is the way this unique horse has been able to cope with such a long time on the track; and his only breaks have been early on in his career from one turf flat season to the next and since then planned absences, but never more than seven months at most. Despite two long barren spells as far as wins went, he never slipped below a mark of 92 having won Chester’s Dee Stakes on his third time ever on the track. Derby winners Oath and Kris Kin had that race as their prep for the Classic in 1999 and 2003 respectively.
He started hurdling late, aged seven, and while he stays every yard of the 2m2f of the Cesarewitch in which he has been in the first four three times, he is quicker than most hurdlers over two miles as the trio ranged against him on Saturday found to their cost.
Expect Hughie to keep him going as a 12-year-old and already he has survived in his career longer than Alcazar, Morrison’s winner of the Group 1 Prix Royal Oak in France wen aged ten. He had a couple of runs the following season without success, racing in all 31 times.
Originally with John Dunlop, with whom he won three times, Alcazar then had two very long absences, broken only by a first-time win for Hughie at Nottingham before resuming four years and four months after his last run for Dunlop.
In effect then, his active career could be regarded as six seasons. Not So Sleepy will be embarking on his 11th if he remains in training.
It was great that Betfair found room on the Sandown card to switch the race on a day when of the 41 races on offer around the country – Wetherby was abandoned – one was sponsored by the Pertemps Group, a qualifier for its long-standing Final at Cheltenham in March and one a Rachael Blackmore charity vehicle. The other 39 were all bookie-backed.
It was very nice money at both Aintree, where Boylesports underwrote the entire card of eight races including the Becher Chase, while Betfair was the benefactor of the Sandown card in its entirety. Coral got a nice Black Friday deal for the rather bargain basement (in comparison) card at Chepstow, which featured the Trial for their forthcoming Coral Grand National on the course just after Christmas: Gary Moore won that and a couple of nice pots at Sandown, too.
The two all-weather cards at Newcastle and Wolverhampton were shared between Bet UK and Bet MGM – reckon there might be some connection there! I mean that in the nicest possible way, of course.
There was big money on offer for the Grade 1 races at Sandown and the top prizes at Aintree, but it does pose the question, what would happen if the big bookmakers decided to take a unified stand and withdraw their support with little warning or as their deals expired?
In Ireland, there was a decent card at Navan, featuring a Listed handicap hurdle, a Grade 3 steeplechase, and the Foxrock Cup, but nothing like what will be on offer over there for the days immediately after Christmas. Still there was €130k to be sliced up.
I do like the feel of the variety of race sponsors, emphasising the homely feel to Irish jump racing. It started off with Mervyn Gray Construction; then the Headfort Arms Hotel, the Tote (what happened to them and race sponsorship over here?); Bective Stud, Tea Rooms and Apartments (love to stay there!), Durnin Workshop and Timeless Sash Windows. Oh for 1990!
As well as their three winners and a third, which pushed stable earnings beyond £100,000 on Saturday, Gary and Jayne Moore must have been still brimming with pride on the news that eldest son Ryan, unbelievably now a 40-year-old, was awarded the World’s Best Jockey accolade in Hong Kong on Friday evening.
He was there to ride four Aidan O’Brien horses in the handsomely-endowed International turf races at Sha Tin yesterday. In the first of them, the twelve-furlong Vase, Warm Heart ran another good race in defeat where, as when caught late by Inspiral at the Breeders’ Cup, she led into the last furlong but ultimately finished third to the Andre Fabre-trained Junko.
Two disappointments followed, but in the Cup, although not winning, anyone watching his ride on Luxembourg, finishing a short head second to the favourite Romantic Warrior in that mile and a quarter showpiece, would not question Moore’s best in the world status.
Always a couple of lengths behind the favourite on the way round, Luxembourg looked likely to be swallowed up as the challengers queued up entering the final furlong. With the favourite running on doggedly, another disappointment loomed, but Ryan conjured a final flourish, narrowly fending off his two nearest rivals and getting within an agonising short head of the fully extended winner.
In just missing the £2.1 million first prize, the Aidan O’Brien/Coolmore/Westerberg team still picked up £805,000 for second place, only £80k less than Auguste Rodin collected in the Derby. Also, it was considerably more than the £712k Auguste Rodin garnered when holding off Luxembourg in the Irish Champion Stakes on yesterday’s runner-up’s latest appearance.
The winner, a son of Acclamation, has earned more than £12 million in claiming 12 of 17 races since being bought by the Hong Kong Jockey Club for 300k at the 2019 Tattersalls Book 2 yearling auction. I will be writing next week about the various excitements in the same ring last week when one mare fetched 4.5 million guineas.
The other star yesterday was Golden Sixty, in the Mile. Like Romantic Warrior a 27/20 chance on the day, he made the local punters very happy, making short work of his field, bringing his career stats to 26 wins in 30 career starts, and pushing his earnings beyond £16 million.
Fighting Fifth hero Not So Sleepy could head straight to the Champion Hurdle after trainer Hughie Morrison ruled out a Christmas clash with Constitution Hill.
While testing conditions led to the withdrawal of National Hunt racing’s headline act, as well as his stablemate Shishkin, nothing should be taken away from Morrison’s durable veteran, who was winning the Grade One contest for a second time, having dead-heated with Epatante two years ago.
The 11-year-old proved himself as good as ever in accounting for a pair of Cheltenham Festival-winning mares in Love Envoi and You Wear It Well, and is reported to have taken his exertions in his stride.
“To be honest, he’s taken it so well I’m embarrassed,” Morrison said on Sunday morning.
“He really has taken it well, I don’t think he had a hard race yesterday.
“I think the critical thing is he’s as good as anything on heavy ground, or very soft. If you take a proper line on the form book, he’s run to over 160, which is extraordinary for an 11-year-old.
“Obviously some people won’t take that as read, but if you take a line through You Wear It Well, who had form on the ground and everything else, I have no doubt we’d have frightened Constitution Hill.”
Owner Lady Blyth and jockey Sean Bowen in the winner’s enclosure with Not So Sleepy (John Walton/PA)
Nicky Henderson’s superstar will now make his belated seasonal debut in the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton on Boxing Day, but Not So Sleepy will not be among his rivals.
Morrison added: “He hates Kempton. I took him there in February for a gallop with Quickthorn before he went to Dubai and while he didn’t mind going left-handed, when I sent him right-handed he pulled himself up, so he won’t go anywhere near Kempton.
“We’ll keep all options open on the basis we could put him in the Champion Hurdle and one day it might be heavy, as long as he trains well.
“He was fifth in the Champion Hurdle last season when I didn’t feel I had him there as well I would have liked him, but as we saw when he won on the Flat at Newbury (in September) and again yesterday, he’s back to his best if not better.”
Hughie Morrison at Sandown on Saturday (John Walton/PA)
With Not So Sleepy clearly still loving the game, thoughts of retirement are not on Morrison’s mind.
“We’re always very mindful of it, we have been for the last four years,” he said.
“Three weeks ago he schooled the best he’s ever schooled. Having not seen anything since the Champion Hurdle, he went over some mini fences and really attacked them.
“He loves running fresh. He didn’t hardly blow at all yesterday – considering he’d run and won on that ground, he had an abnormally light blow.
“If we went for the Champion Hurdle, he wouldn’t have another run, and then later on next year you might think of giving him one run in September somewhere and going for a third Fighting Fifth again at Newcastle, or wherever it is.”
https://www.geegeez.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/274811801-scaled.jpg12802560Geegeez Newshttps://www.geegeez.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/geegeez_banner_new_170x78.pngGeegeez News2023-12-10 13:34:062023-12-10 13:34:06Not So Sleepy fighting fit after Sandown heroics
Not So Sleepy stayed on best of all to win the rescheduled Betfair Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Sandown.
Saved from Newcastle’s abandoned card last weekend, the race lost plenty of its lustre when Nicky Henderson withdrew the current champion hurdler Constitution Hill and stablemate Shishkin.
That meant just four went to post, with Goshen and You Wear It Well setting a strong enough gallop in the conditions.
By the second last those two had done their running while Not So Sleepy, who turns 12 in a few weeks, was still on the bridle under Sean Bowen.
Love Envoi, who had not really been travelling throughout, soon appeared on the scene but approaching the last Not So Sleepy, who dead-heated in the race with Epatante in 2021, quickened eight lengths clear.
It was a noteworthy success for Bowen, who also holds a sizeable lead in the race to become champion jockey.
“You can see why Nicky didn’t want to turn up,” quipped a delighted Morrison.
“That was a Grade One, those mares were Grade One mares, Goshen should have won a Grade One and he has dead-heated in a Grade One. Whenever conditions are right he is a Grade One horse.
“I’m thrilled, this is the race we have aimed for since Newbury and it is a great relief that we are here.
“It’s great for the team and Raj who leads him up, rides him every day and gets ran away with at home. You have to keep it simple at home and he is a legend. This is his 10th season racing and he has lost none of his enthusiasm and he is better than ever.
“He is magnificent, he’s a legend, he is absolutely unique. He runs away with his jockey everyday and you can’t take him to half the gallops because he will plant and do things like that. But he was in the mood today, he looked really well and funny enough in the Cesarewitch didn’t look as well as I thought he would. If you looked at him today in the paddock he looked magnificent.
“Coming to the second last I thought we had it won and then I thought we were beat. But Sean said as soon as they came to him he just picked up again. He did what he did at Newbury and the reason he can keep going is you just don’t know how good he is.”
Bowen added: “It’s gruelling ground but it was something he seemed to relish today.
“It’s amazing to get a ride on that sort of horse. He was the outsider and probably had a lot to do, but on his day is a very very good horse.
“He got to the front two out and had a look around at the last, but he was always going to win when he heard someone behind him.
“It’s amazing to get these Grade Ones, it’s brilliant.”
https://www.geegeez.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/274802458-scaled.jpg12802560Geegeez Newshttps://www.geegeez.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/geegeez_banner_new_170x78.pngGeegeez News2023-12-09 13:32:052023-12-09 15:40:07Not So Sleepy powers away to win Fighting Fifth
Hughie Morrison’s One For Bobby is set for an outing on Qipco British Champions Day – but conditions will dictate if Stay Alert joins her stablemate in the line-up for the British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes at Ascot.
The Berkshire track will be a fitting place for the four-year-old to end a successful season as it is the place her breeder Frank Dunne saddled the great Stanerra to register a Royal Ascot double in 1983.
She has won twice in four starts since joining Morrison ahead of the 2023 campaign and having secured Listed honours at Nottingham on her stable bow, she added a Group Three at Vichy in the summer.
One For Bobby was last seen finishing well held in the Prix Jean Romanet at Deauville but her handler is now prepared to give the daughter of Frankel another opportunity at Group One level.
“She didn’t run her race the other day at Deauville and had a sore foot,” said Morrison.
“If we got her back to form, she might surprise a few people. I think she will get the one-mile-four, whether she is over the top or not we will find out on the day.
“She has got a Group and Listed win and that was what we were asked to do. She won at Nottingham and then won in France.”
On the potential participation of Stay Alert, Morrison added: “She’s a possible, but you wouldn’t want too much more rain.”
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They raced for a lot of money in Ireland yesterday, the Friends of Curragh Irish Cesarewitch carrying a £292k first prize, for which 30 horses turned up, writes Tony Stafford. You would have won a lot of money, too, if you had found the Joseph O’Brien-trained winner, the potential heir to the Ballydoyle job one might suggest, sending out 150/1 shot Magellan Strait for a victory which prompted a quiz from the stewards.
The magical Joseph might well have been a little more confident of his shortest-priced horse of four, third home Dawn Rising, who had won Ascot’s Queen Alexandra Stakes as the 2/1 favourite under Ryan Moore at Royal Ascot back in June.
The two O’Brien stayers were split by another veteran of big-race success in the UK, Dermot Weld’s Falcon Eight, successful in the 2021 Chester Cup under Frankie Dettori.
The winner and second do not have the much less well-endowed but still probably more prestigious Newmarket version in three weekends time on their agenda, but 13 from yesterday’s race do, and I’ve managed to find another 11 from various races over the past couple of days even including an unplaced runner in the Preis von Europa in Cologne, Germany, yesterday.
That was the Saeed bin Suroor-trained Live Your Dream, who is very high up in the weights. This 14 was bolstered by Saturday’s Turners Cesarewitch Trial at Newmarket, won nicely by Andrew Balding’s Grand Providence, clearly enjoying the extended trip. Eight of the nine that followed him over the line have the big-race entry.
Ryan Moore, amazingly, was back after riding in Sydney the day before, but his mount, Aidan’s Tower Of London, understandably favourite after his creditable fourth behind stablemate Continuous in the St Leger only eight days earlier at Doncaster, could not make his lenient mark tell.
In all, Willie Mullins had six runners in the big race. The ease with which Ireland’s champion jumps trainer knocks off our big flat long-distance races, matched only really by his main Cheltenham protagonist Nicky Henderson, is well chronicled, but here he was well and truly on the back foot.
Of course, all his sextet, plus one in a consolation race for those missing out on the big one, have Newmarket entries, where he will be aiming to add to his hat-trick from 2018-20. One of those, Stratum, was in the field but Brighton and Hove Albion FC’s chairman Tony Bloom was probably far too engaged watching his team beat Bournemouth (boo! – Ed.) than to take more than a passing notice of his veteran’s 25th place.
Expect an upgrade if he turns up at HQ, and the same probably goes for Jackfinbar (8th), Lot Of Joy (11th), Echoes In Rain (13th), Mt Leinster (22nd) and M C Muldoon (27th after making the running for David Manasseh and partners).
Echoes in Rain had finished second in the inaugural big-money Irish Ces last year, behind the then Aidan -trained Mr Waterville, who is now with Chris Waller in Australia. Ryan rode him into fourth place at Rosehill on Saturday and no doubt he has the Melbourne Cup as his main objective as had Tower Of London. Maybe the latter raid may be under review.
But the one trial that caught most of us out – yet it shouldn’t have if we had examined the very extensive history of his career – was the all-the-way gutsy win of 11-year-old Not So Sleepy in a quite valuable (by UK standards) 1m5½f handicap at Newbury.
Since making a winning debut over a mile as a juvenile at Nottingham almost nine years ago, the home-bred Not So Sleepy has now won ten races for Hughie Morrison, five each on the flat and over jumps. Not So Sleepy has raced 63 times (46 on the flat) with six second and five third places along with ten fourth’s, including in the Cesarewitch’s of 2019 and 2020. Under both codes he has won around a quarter of a million and nudged over a combined £500k on Saturday.
When he won his third-ever race in the Group 3 Dee Stakes his rating jumped up to 107 after that Derby trial. It has never dropped below 94 despite two long losing sequences – 13 in succession after Chester over the next 18 months, then another 15 following his Epsom Derby Day handicap win as a five-year-old.
Running well enough with places in tough races not to get much respite from the BHA officials, Not So Sleepy got a late and in many circles highly questionable switch to hurdling as a seven-year-old. The cynics were preening themselves after he was far too free on debut at Kempton, but he then bolted up at Wincanton which earned a 125 rating. One more pulled up run ended that mixed campaign.
So now it was back to the flat, for another six winless runs, but a portent of what might be in the future was a fourth in his first try at the Cesarewitch behind Stratum. Now it was back to hurdling, winning two Ascot handicaps by making all in devastating fashion, his mark already up to 144 by the time he turned out for the Betfair Hurdle at Newbury the following February.
That year, the big field produced two false starts and after being in a great position to jump first time round, Not So Sleepy found himself hampered at the eventual departure and the then eight-year-old was never in contention. Hughie and his owners Lord and Lady Blyth still had the ambition to run in the Champion Hurdle, but he was pulled up.
A break followed until the autumn, when under Graham Lee he won a Pontefract handicap off that career lowest 94 before his fourth place to Mullins’ Great White Shark at Newmarket in Cesarewitch number two. He then resumed over hurdles, jinking and unseating at the first flight in the 2020 Fighting Fifth won by Epatante, before gaining a second win in the Betfair Exchange Hurdle at Ascot.
This gave Morrison great satisfaction as he beat a former stable-companion, Buzz, whom the owners had moved to Henderson after Morrison had successfully managed physical issues in his early days on the flat.
He then ran a much improved race, fifth in Honeysuckle’s first Champion Hurdle, before taking in the Chester Cup, finishing a close seventh. He still got his lengthy summer break, but instead of a third run at Newmarket, a close second in a Doncaster handicap was the prelude to a dead-heat with Epatante in the 20201 Fighting Fifth before a fifth place behind the same J P McManus mare in the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton and the same position, a little closer than the previous year, behind Honeysuckle in her repeat championship.
He continued with two relatively disappointing runs in summer 2022 but was back in top form with a third after taking up the running a mile out in last year’s Cesarewitch.
Three hurdles runs, two behind the new star Constitution Hill, including once more in his fourth Champion Hurdle, preceded the usual summer break. And you can guess the rest.
He returned at Newbury on Saturday, his trainer joking before the race, having heard the news that Constitution Hill was to continue hurdling, with a wry: “Whatever happens today, I can categorically state that Not So Sleepy will NOT be going chasing this winter.”
So next month, he will be trying to match another of his rival Henderson’s achievements. Nicky won the 2008 Cesarewitch with the 11-year-old Caracciola who proceeded to win the Queen Alexandra at age 12. Morrison has a Group 1 win on his record with 10-year-old Alcazar, but if Not So Sleepy does the deed at the fourth time of asking, that would be a bigger achievement to my mind.
Both the Cesarewitch and Cambridgeshire began life in 1839 and they are two of my favourite races. I was hoping to write a piece today outlining why I thought Dylan Cunha’s Silver Sword was a good thing to win the race next Saturday, but the trainer is unwilling to run him back so soon after his eye-catching run last week in Listed company at Sandown. He prefers to wait for a race he has in mind at Santa Anita in November. If only!
In his absence, I would love to see William Knight make up for last year’s unlucky defeat of Dual Identity, who won most impressively recently at Sandown. All we can hope is that Knight, who has had no luck this year, might have it turn his way this weekend for a change.
- TS
https://www.geegeez.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/NotSoSleepy_Newbury.png319830Tony Staffordhttps://www.geegeez.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/geegeez_banner_new_170x78.pngTony Stafford2023-09-25 07:16:262023-09-25 07:16:26Monday Musings: Still Not Sleepy
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