Marlborough set for Newbury appearance
King George VI Chase runner-up Marlborough is set to reappear at Newbury on Saturday.
Nicky Henderson’s 11-year-old been as good, if not better, than ever this season and ran an absolute stormer when a desperately close second to Best Mate in the St Stephen's Day showpiece at Kempton.
And he will take his next step towards a tilt at the Tote Cheltenham Gold Cup when he tackles what is shaping up to be a hot renewal of the AON Chase at the Berkshire track.
“Marlborough is on course and will definitely run,” owner Robert Ogden’s racing manager Barry Simpson confirmed today.
“Nicky is very pleased with him. He had a hard enough race last time and I’ve said before that we were flattered by the distance we were beaten but it doesn’t seem to have convinced the handicapper.
“He’s put him up within a pound of Best Mate and if I thought he was right then Marlborough shouldn’t be a 16-1 chance (for the Gold Cup).
“He’s in very good form, he’s come out the race well and we’re looking forward to running him next Saturday.
“Very testing, heavy ground probably wouldn’t be in his favour but he won on pretty soft ground at Wetherby (when beating Hussard Collonges in the Charlie Hall Chase).
“In the past he’s always had top-weight and 11st 12lb on heavy ground in a handicap would be a concern but off level weights, unless the ground was bottomless, we wouldn’t be making excuses, and we wouldn’t want to – the horse is in good form and we’re expecting a massive run from him.”
The AON had been a possible option for the Ogden-owned Kingsmark but Simpson said: “He won’t be entered. Kingsmark will probably have one run somewhere before the Grand National as a prep.
We may even consider just running him in a conditions race over hurdles.
“He’s a horse who quite honestly doesn’t take a lot of getting ready, he’s very clean-winded and it’s not necessary for him to have a run.
“He needs six weeks between his races and he’s not a horse who you would campaign heavily in a season.”
But the Paul Nicholls-trained veteran See More Business, whom Ogden part-owns along with Paul Barber, will be put in the AON although the Country Gentlemen’s Association Chase at Wincanton the following weekend seems a more likely option at this stage.
“See More will be entered for the AON Chase but obviously we’ll have to discuss it with Paul Nicholls and Paul Barber,” Simpson said.
“His most likely objective is Wincanton, that’s his alternative and he’ll go from there to Cheltenham although I’m not excluding him totally from Newbury.
“He’s in very good form as well and you’d think that if he ran to his current form he’d have a chance of being placed in the Gold Cup.”
“To be fair, at his age (13) he’s not going to improve but he’s going to put up very good, consistent performances.
“Occasionally he does put in the odd poor one but I think he does that when the ground is very much against him.”
