Victorious Forever To Break New Ground With First Cheltenham Festival Runner

[Wandering Eyes]

Victorious Forever will break new ground at the Cheltenham Festival when the Declan Queally-trained Carrigmoornaspruce (Diamond Boy), no bigger than 14-1 for next Thursday's Grade 2 mares' novice hurdle, will carry the leading Bahraini-based owners' familiar red and white silks for the first time under National Hunt rules. 

Shaikh Nasser bin Hamed Al Khalifa's Victorious Racing and his brother Shaikh Khalid's KHK Racing merged last August to form Victorious Forever. Together, the brothers have horses like 1,000 Guineas contender Zanthos (Sioux Nation) and 2,000 Guineas entry Saber Strike (Night Of Thunder) to look forward to on the level this year. 

However, according to bloodstock agent and racing manager to Victorious Forever, Billy Jackson-Stops, having a runner at the Cheltenham Festival will fulfill a long-held ambition for Shaikh Nasser.

Billy Jackson-Stops | Tattersalls

Jackson-Stops told TDN Europe, “Shaikh Nasser is a champion ironman athlete and is a champion endurance rider. So, he has gone from himself being an athlete to having a real affinity with anything related to endurance.  When it came to jumps horses, he has always wanted to test the water. He felt that this was a great year to do it and, having had a look around for him, we felt that Carrigmoornaspruce was possibly the best target to aim for. She's certainly exciting and there will be a little bit of residual value further down the line there.”

Asked if this new venture represented fun or could spark something bigger with regards to investment in National Hunt stock, Jackson-Stops replied, “I think for the moment, it's fun. However, you never know. Ultimately, in this business, if you have a bit of success, you can get a taste for it and anything could happen. We are starting out with the view that this is solely fun and it is an entertaining project on the side. But it could go anywhere.”

County Waterford handler Queally reports Carrigmoornaspruce, who finished second in a Grade 1 novice hurdle over two miles when last seen at Leopardstown over the Christmas period, to be in rude health ahead of Cheltenham. 

He told TDN Europe, “As far as I know, it is their [Victorious Racing] first National Hunt horse and it is very exciting for a yard like ours. We're delighted to have such a big owner on board and she will definitely stay with us until the rest of the season. We'll see what happens after that. She always turns up and always runs her race. I think I know her a lot better now. Last season was only her first season and I definitely overcooked her before the Dublin Racing Festival [where she finished third in a Grade 2 mares' bumper]. We've learned that she is one in 200 horses in that she doesn't take too much galloping, is best fresh and needs her races well spaced out. She's definitely a rare creature but she's also very talented and, when she is fresh, that's when you will get a big performance out of her. We know where we have gone wrong with her in the past and we feel we have her spot on for next week. James Bowen has been booked to take the ride.”

Queally added, “We have a few horses going to Cheltenham with live chances. I'll ride I'll Sort That in the Turners and Tackletommywoowoo would have a right chance in the Albert Bartlett – and that race looks like it could cut up a good bit. He won a Listed race over three miles last November so it's not like he doesn't have good form in the book. If he can come back to the form he showed in the autumn, he could be a big price at 40-1. I'll Sort That is probably my best chance of a winner all week but I do think the mare [Carrigmoornaspruce] has a savage each-way chance. A strong pace will really suit her and I think she will be finishing off her race well.”

The Cheltenham buzz is not just confined to the trainer-rider, who revealed that his three kids are approaching the Festival with just as much excitement as he is. 

Queally concluded, “We're getting outfits ready for our three kids at the minute and it's all very exciting. My little daughter Molly is seven and they are making best of luck posters in school and all of that sort of thing. She is getting the week off school and I am told that they are going to be playing the races from Cheltenham in the classroom. It's a massive thing for a child to have her father riding a horse that she gets to see and feed every day at home at a meeting like Cheltenham so we're all just very excited. The horses are running well lately so we're kind of delighted with how things are shaping up heading into Cheltenham.”

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