Gary Moore confident of bold Sire De Grugy show
The nine-year—old has missed much of the campaign after suffering an early-season setback and when he did eventually return in the Game Spirit Chase at Newbury earlier this month, his jumping was less then convincing before he eventually unseated Jamie Moore three fences from the finish.
Turned out just a couple of weeks later in Wales, Sire De Grugy looked much more like his old self as he gave lumps of weight and a good beating to three rivals and Moore was thrilled to see his stable star bounce back ahead of his return to Prestbury Park on March 11.
Moore said: “He’s absolutely fine this morning. I’m delighted with him.
“What more could he have done? Grey Gold wasn’t that far behind Dodging Bullets at Ascot off level weights and we gave him a stone and a half yesterday and beat him beat him easily.
“I’m not interested in the betting (for the Champion Chase). If he gets the run of the race at Cheltenham I think he’ll be there with every chance, I really do.”
Also on Saturday, Rocky Creek warmed up for the Crabbie’s Grand National in perfect fashion with an impressive victory in the BetBright Chase at Kempton.
The Paul Nicholls-trained 8-1 shot travelled well into the business end of the three-mile contest having headed the chasing pack behind early leader Renard.
Once called on for a maximum effort, the nine-year-old responded in style, pulling six lengths clear of runner-up Le Reve.
Following Rocky Creek’s win, his odds for the Aintree spectacular were cut to 12-1 with a handful of bookmakers.
Nicholls said: “That is just what we wanted before Aintree. What happened at Newbury (when tried) with the tongue tie was that he seemed to spit the dummy out (pulled up).
“I was never going to run him before the National weights came out as Aintree was always the number one target.
“He ran very well in the race last year and has had a breathing operation which has helped him.
“He jumped and travelled well in last year’s National and now that we have got his breathing right, the National should be right up his street and it will be a different ball game.”
