Lydia
This race continues to crouch in the shadow of Sprinter Sacre, who presents the same problems now as he did for much of last season following his atrial fibrillation scare at Kempton in December 2013. When he will return and what he will then be capable of remain unknowns. Reports have been upbeat. ( Have they
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In his absence, Sire De Grugy exerted a dominance of his own over the two-mile division but has since suffered some issues, too. Operations to remove chips on both ankles can only have helped and he was reported to have been working well until suddenly being found to be lame last week.
Accordingly, he missed his intended target at Cheltenham last Sunday but, happily, this week began with trainer Gary Moore reporting the horse – who has had pelvic problems before – had “come sound again just as quickly as he went lame”. The next stage depends on the results of a bone scan this week.
Sire De Grugy’s absence from the Shloer Chase left Uxizandre to make all with some fluid jumping and under a masterful ride by Geraghty. With cheekpieces reapplied, that was his best performance yet and he would be an interesting contender for the Champion Chase – although the pesky Ryanair is also an option.
Less testing ground would likely see him to even better effect. Trainer Alan King believes the horse must go left-handed and dislikes being crowded. The next target could be Leopardstown’s 2m1f Grade One chase over Christmas.
Behind him at Cheltenham, Simply Ned stayed on for second – confirming he is a slightly improved horse this season – ahead of the young flatterer, Dodging Bullets.
