Switch of tracks did not help Trueshan who went down fighting

October 23

Now that the dust has settled, we can look back on Trueshan‘s unsuccessful bid to win a fourth consecutive Champions Long Distance Cup at Ascot on Saturday.

Despite getting warm down at the start, Trueshan settled well for Hollie Doyle. However, she started to niggle passing the four-furlong marker and, though the seven-year-old closed on Kyrios and eventual winner Trawlerman going into the final turn, as soon as they straightened for home Trueshan was flat to the boards and the writing was on the wall at the two pole.

The wind operation revived Trueshan, who, having not fired in his first two races this season, bounced back to win both the Doncaster Cup and the Prix du Cadran, so everyone at Barbury hoped that he pull off an unprecedented four-timer.

However, it was not to be and Trueshan came home a gallant but weary fourth. But as Alan said before the race “very few horses come back to win a Group race three years in a row, let alone four,” plus because Saturday’s curtain-raiser had to be switched from the main course to the Inner track after the torrential rain earlier in the week, the two-milers faced less of a stamina test as, apart from up the straight, there was plenty of good to soft bits on the round course.

Alan is never one to make plans for the future straight after a race, and, doubtless, he’ll see how Trueshan is when he resumes exercise after a quiet week before writing the next chapter in what has already been an unbelievable career for a horse who cost only 31,000gns as a two-year-old and has won 15 races and more than £182,000 in prize money.

Meanwhile, we are off jumping on Tuesday with a couple of runners each at Hereford and Exeter. Favour And Fortune has looked a smart bumper horse and is interesting making his hurdles debut at Hereford, where Irish Chorus, who went into plenty of notebooks when finishing third on her first run at Newbury in March, is also in action in her second bumper.

And on Wednesday Brioni, a 130,000gns Breeze-Up purchase at Newmarket’s Craven meeting in April, is back at HQ for a 7f novice. He showed bags of promise when finishing third to two more-experienced youngsters on his debut at Sandown last month, and he ought to have learned plenty there.