Low sun blamed for Coneygree’s jumping issues at Wetherby
Former Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Coneygree was pulled up on his latest comeback at Wetherby after injuring himself with some poor jumping.
CONEYGREE is reported to have sustained a nasty overreach that resulted in him being pulled up in the bet365 Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby.
The 2015 Cheltenham Gold Cup winner, who was only making his fourth start since that triumph, didn't jump fluently in the early stages of the Grade Two contest on Saturday, a problem his connections are blaming on the low sun.
Whilst the injury sustained during the race is not too serious, the Betfair Chase at Haydock has been ruled out but the Ladbrokes Trophy Chase (formerly the Hennessy Gold Cup) at Newbury could still be on the agenda.
"He's got a very nasty overreach. It's nothing structural," said Sara Bradstock, who trains Coneygree along with her husband, Mark.
"I think the sun was a big influence for what went wrong. That's why he lunged at the ditch, because he couldn't see and then jumped the next slowly because he couldn't see when he pecked and I think that's where he got the overreach.
"Nico thinks he probably hit it again and you can see in the straight he loses his action and Nico was absolutely right to pull him up.
"All the jockeys were saying the same. I don't know why they ran it at 3.15 when you have the possibility of a low sun. You shouldn't have the main event as the second last race.
"I'm usually the first to pooh-pooh that excuse, but when Nico said to me that he couldn't see the fence, I looked to my left (where the sun was) and I couldn't see anything. The sun wasn't just low, it was very bright.
"Obviously we were desperately disappointed because Nico said he felt unbelievable over the first two and then he thinks he was just simply distracted by the sun and just dived.
"He's overreached at the next one because he's jumped too high. The reason it worried him was because he couldn't see the fence. He's such a good jumper.
"It's a slice into the bulb of his heel and before we have him jumping again, we will have to make sure it's not hurting him. That can take three or four days or in the worse situation three to four weeks.
"It's not a long-term thing at all. He won't be entered for the Betfair as that would come too quick, but hopefully we might still get to the Hennessy."
Bradstock revealed she was approached by a disgruntled punter after the race.
Templegate's Treble
NAP 2.20 Kempton - Kitty Boo: 'Could get her own way out in front and looks much better suit to the all-weather'
NEXT BEST 3.50 Kempton - Boy In The Bar: 'Ran a cracker at Doncaster last time on soft ground off a 14lbs higher mark than here'
TREBLE 2.50 Kempton - Western Hymn: 'Won this last year and return to this surface can revitalise this classy gelding'
"Some people do talk a lot of rubbish. You can see he's keen to get on with it at the start. It was only two fences but he still jumped those in his own immaculate style and he was cantering when the others were galloping and everything looked Coneygree-like, then he couldn't see," she said.
"Some punter came up to me and said we shouldn't have pulled him up. It's not fair at that stage (as) I was terribly worried about the horse.
"At the time we thought it was just the sun. It would have been more worrying as you think what would make him pull himself up? It wasn't that. He's got a nasty overreach and they are very painful, but at least it's not one of his nasty injuries."