Caraciolla stepping up

Caracciola is likely to step up in his trip over hurdles following his historic victory in one of the Flat’s most prestigious long-distance handicaps.

Nicky Henderson’s gelding became the oldest horse at the age of 11 to win the totesport.com Cesarewitch at Newmarket on Saturday after finishing second in the marathon 12 months earlier.

“He’s absolutely fine, he’s a good old soldier,” said the Seven Barrows trainer, celebrating his second Cesarewitch success after Landing Light in 2003.

“He’ll go back hurdling. I suppose the funny thing is he’s been running in races like the Tote Gold Trophy and the County Hurdle for the last five years and in fairness you would probably conclude that we might have been running him over shorter than he needs to be.

“It’s more than likely we’ll be looking at a bit more than two miles.

“He stays extreme distances on the Flat so you’d expect him to get further over hurdles. At his ripe old age of 11 we’ve just discovered we’ve been running him over the wrong trip!

“I’d be looking at two and a half miles. It’s quite difficult at his age and with his rating both in handicap hurdles and on the Flat. They are seriously competitive races so to capture one like that was great.

“He’s been a very good servant. He’s run more than 50 times and won a couple of good chases too, as well as being good over hurdles and on the Flat.

“He’s fantastic and he’s been a great fun horse. He’s consistent and he loves it.”