As we all know, the question on everybody’s lips ahead of Ascot last Saturday involved the race fitness and return to action of Sprinter Sacre – and by the end of the race, I am no clearer as to the definitive answer. He was clearly not his old self (who would have trounced this field without breaking sweat), but then after over a year off with an irregular heartbeat, it seems pretty obvious to me that they would not have go to the bottom of him at home, and may have even been a little scared of all the risks (and bad publicity) that could have entailed. Naturally, after what I felt was a perfectly satisfactory if not overly exciting return in second, the conspiracy theorists were out in force varying from the “he will never race again “ brigade in one corner to the “next stop Champion Chase -it’s a formality” club in the other. Reality suggests we need to wait a little longer to see how he comes out of the race over the next few days, and although he bled a little from the nose, it seems unlikely that can be used as an excuse even by his most ardent supporters, leaving just the two choices – he wasn’t fit enough or isn’t the horse he once was. As a fan myself (colours nailed to the mast time), I am hoping it is the latter, but I suspect we will not really know until Cheltenham in March and the acid test.
Elsewhere, the excellent Harry Fry proved yet again what an up and coming trainer he is with victory for Bitofapuzzle in the mares’ staying race on the same Ascot card. She was the clear danger to Carole’s Destiny but at the weights looked to have no chance but her astute handler knew otherwise as she held on showing heart as well as plenty of ability but looked as though she would now appreciate a well earned rest – so whether she heads to the Festival or not could yet be an open question with Blue Buttons a possibly more than adequate replacement.
On Sunday Leopardstown allowed Vautour to have little more than a schooling session as he scored by 92 lengths from Aladdins Cave after his only serious formbook rival (Real Steel) fell at the last when already well beaten. To be honest, the bookmakers may choose to shorten him for the Arkle Chase after he got round in one piece, but he proved little more than that he still had a leg in each corner, and as he jumped sketchily in the main, my money will be staying in my pocket for now thank you very much.
Finally, we had a really interesting runner at Kempton on the all-weather track on Sunday – which is not a sentence I ever expected to write. I was interested enough to spot French trainer Alain De Royer-Dupre bothering to send a five year old sprinter over for a Conditions race worth a pittance, but fascinated to read that she was ex South African (trained by V H Marshall), the daughter of Silvano won her first tow races, including a Group One at Scottsville before failing to see out the seventh furlong in the Golden Slipper 2013 at Greyville. 561 day off then track may have been injury influenced but seem morel likely to be a combination of quarantines and training regimes but she ran well enough to finish second, despite being weak in the market (which implies she will improve for the run), and I am certainly looking forward to her next run with interest as we get one of our few chances here in the UK to compare our form to that of another continent.