Meeting - The Open - Friday, Saturday &
Sunday November 16, 17 & 18
First race - 1.15pm Friday, 12.45pm Saturday,
1.10pm Sunday - gates open 10am Friday & Saturday, 11.00am Sunday
Tickets available from www.cheltenham.co.uk or by calling 08445
793 003.
Trainer Keiran Burke
unveiled his stable star Hunt Ball today at his yard in Ash, Somerset,
ahead of the seven-year-old's appearance in Saturday's £160,000 Grade Three
Paddy Power Gold Cup, the highlight of The Open at Cheltenham which runs from
Friday, November 16 through to Sunday, November 18.
Hunt Ball was one of the
most remarkable success stories of last season, racking up seven victories
including the Listed Pulteney Land Investments Novices' Handicap Chase at The
Festival. Hunt Ball's mark rose from 69 to 157 during the 2011/12 campaign - a
remarkable improvement of 88lb. His last appearance came in the Grade One
Betfred Bowl at Aintree in April, when he finished a fine third.
Paddy Power makes Hunt
Ball its 11/2 second favourite for the Paddy Power Gold Cup, which takes place
over an extended two and a half miles.
Speaking at a media event
organised by Cheltenham Racecourse and Paddy Power, Keiran Burke said:
"I'm a bit nervous but I've done all my work now and it's down to the
horse and jockey on the day.
"He did his last
serious piece of work yesterday over 15 furlongs down at Richard Barber's
place. We just now have to keep him fresh until Saturday.
"Hunt Ball is a very
laid back horse and you have to make him work. He has been back in a while
following his summer break, as we didn't want to get him fit too quickly.
"The Paddy Power Gold
Cup is a hot handicap chase and you have to be ready for a race like that. He
has had a racecourse gallop and lots of schooling. He is a bigger and stronger
horse this year, having grown a little bit over the summer. Hopefully, he has
improved too!
"Hunt Ball is usually
a slick jumper but can put in a dodgy one. His jumping did improve throughout
last season and when Nick (Scholfield, Hunt Ball's jockey) schooled him at Wincanton
after their first meeting this season, he was over the moon."
When asked when he knew
Hunt Ball might be something special, Burke said: "We worked him one day
with Holmwood Legend (who won the 2011 Byrne Group Plate at The Festival) and
he galloped all over him so he was quite well-fancied first time out last
season!
"He is a massive
horse and was all skin and bones when we first got him. He was still weak and
needed to grow. I think we got him at the right time. If you look at him now,
he has a real neck on him and has really filled out. When I saw Mick Easterby
(Hunt Ball's original trainer) at Aintree last season, he said what have you
been feeding him!
"Even when saddling
him up at the races, Hunt Ball is a very laid back horse. He saves all his
energy for his races. In his work, you have to push him and be quite hard on
him."
Reflecting on Hunt Ball's
third in last season's Grade One Betfred Bowl at Aintree, Burke added:
"Aintree came quickly after Cheltenham. It was the end of a long season
and I think he was just a bit tired.
"We won't know if
last season has left its mark until he runs on Saturday. I don't think it has -
he feels brilliant."
Burke only has 10 horses
in training at his yard, plus four in pre-training but believes this may have
proved beneficial to Hunt Ball. The trainer continued: "I am not sure Hunt
Ball would manage in a bigger yard. He is happy here, which makes our job a bit
easier.
"We only have 10
horses here and struggle with facilities in that we have to box horses up to
the gallops. However, we have had two winners at The Festival in the last two
years, which many bigger yards haven't managed.
"All the staff here work
bloody hard. We are a small, quirky yard but there is something about the
place."
Hunt Ball is owned by
colourful Sturminster Newton-based dairy farmer Anthony Knott, who provided
Keiran Burke with his first winner as a jockey (the Colin Tizzard-trained Icare
D'Oudaires at Cheltenham in 2003).
Burke continued: "I
think Anthony is brilliant for racing, he has brought fun to the game.
"I rode my first
winner for Anthony and he is a mate as much as an owner to me."
Anthony Knott was also in
attendance today and said: "When he worked one day and was not far behind
Sparky May we knew we had a horse to do something with.
"We lumped on when he
won first time at Folkestone and he duly obliged. We had entered him in three
races soon after that and we thought that might be it but he just carried on
improving."
Knott, who estimates to
have won £700,000 backing Hunt Ball last season, continued: "The more I
look at the Paddy Power Gold Cup, the more I see him winning the race.
"I've always told
people to lump on Hunt Ball. I say to people, if you've got pension problems or
anything like that, just lump on Hunt Ball.
"We are living the
dream. I say living the dream but we will be living a reality come Saturday.
When Nick lets him loose three out, I can't see anything staying with him.
"I have had £20,000
on Hunt Ball at 10s and 9s for the Paddy Power Gold Cup, plus there is £90,000
to the winner. I have also back him at 50/1 to win a million for the Gold Cup.
"We have his season
mapped around four races and if we can land one of those we will be doing all
right. I think realistically his best chances of success this season are in the
Paddy Power Gold Cup and the King George, as his best performance last season
was at Kempton. The Gold Cup may be a step too far, but we will find out.
"I am not worried
about the other horses on Saturday, as I know what we have, although I do think
Nicky Henderson's horse (Triolo d'Alene) could be lingering on a nice weight.
"I just hope they all
stay up and we have a proper race."
Paying tribute to Keiran
Burke, Knott added: "Keiran is a very underrated trainer and his both
ridden and trained winners at the Cheltenham Festival.
"I think if Ginger
McCain were to come back, he would be very happy to see what Keiran has done
with Hunt Ball."
Summing up his philosophy,
Knott concluded: "I only buy cheap horses and it just shows that anyone
can do it.
"I would not get any
pleasure spending huge amounts. I love going out and taking on the £100,000 or
£200,000 horses with what I have."
Web: www.cheltenham.co.uk
Mobile Apps: http://www.cheltenham.co.uk/about/mobile-apps/
Twitter: @CheltenhamRaces
Facebook: www.facebook.com/thehomeofjumpracing
HUNT BALL
(IRE) FACTFILE
7 b g
Winged Love (IRE) - La Fandango (IRE) (Taufan (USA))
Form: 00/P4/111211113-
Owner: Anthony Knott
Breeder: Michael
Slevin
Trainer: Keiran Burke Jockey: Nick
Scholfield
Hunt Ball
Hunt Ball
endeared himself to the racing world with a stunning 2011/2012 campaign that
started off in a lowly novices' handicap chase at Folkestone and ended with a
fine display in the Grade One Betfred Bowl at Aintree's John Smith's Grand
National Meeting. The seven-year-old was previously owned by Aintree chairman
Lord Daresbury and trained by Mick and David Easterby, for whom he won two
point- to-points but failed to shine in a Market Rasen bumper and Hexham
novices' hurdle in June, 2009. Hunt Ball also displayed little talent in one
start for Olivia Brookshaw as he was pulled up in a Wincanton hunters' chase in
February, 2011. He made an inauspicious start for Somerset trainer Pat Rodford
at Cheltenham's April Meeting in April, 2011, when he finished a distant last
in a novices' chase under Keiran Burke. Rodford handed over the licence to
Burke at the start of the 2011/2012 campaign and Hunt Ball made a winning debut
for his current handler with a comfortable success in a Folkestone novices' handicap
chase on November 28, 2011. He was rated 69 prior to that victory but saw his
mark rise to a lofty 102 by the start of 2012 thanks to a pair of impressive
handicap chase wins at Fontwell on December 6 and at Folkestone on December 13.
After a narrow defeat in a Plumpton handicap chase on January 2, Hunt Ball's
star continued to rise with two further handicap chase victories at Wincanton
on January 21 and February 18, with the former success being marked by owner
Anthony Knott accompanying jockey Nick Scholfield into the winner's enclosure
on the back of the winning horse - a stunt that saw the dairy farmer fined
£100. Hunt Ball further defied the handicapper with a 10-length handicap chase
success at Kempton on February 25, although connections were initially
concerned that his new mark of 142 would deny him the chance to line up in the
Listed Pulteney Land Investments Novices' Handicap Chase at Cheltenham, which
is for horses rated 0-140. He was allowed to take his chance in his preferred
Festival target because he was within the ratings band when the entries closed
for the extended two and half-mile contest. An ever-ebullient Knott foretold
another easy victory for Hunt Ball at Cheltenham, despite his welter burden of
12st, and backed his stable star to win more than £500,000. After sweeping to
the front after the penultimate fence, Hunt Ball stormed up the Cheltenham hill
for a convincing eight-length success over White Star Line. He was pitched
outside of novice company on his final appearance of the 2011/2012 season as he
took on some of Britain and Ireland's leading staying chasers in the Grade One
Betfred Bowl at Aintree on April 12. Despite making his ninth start of the
campaign, Hunt Ball ran an excellent race to take third behind Follow The Plan
and Burton Port - an effort that was rewarded with an official rating of 157,
some 88lb higher than his mark five months earlier.
Race
Record: Starts: 13; Wins: 7 ; 2nd: 1; 3rd: 1; Win & Place Prize Money:
£73,928
Anthony
Knott
Anthony
Knott, 48, a dairy farmer from Sturminster Newton, Dorset, has established
himself as one of racing's most colourful owners. He has seen his colours
carried to victory on both the Flat and over jumps, having had horses in
training with Bill Turner, Colin Tizzard and Keiran Burke. He first shot to
prominence as an amateur jockey in November, 2008, when he enjoyed his first
(and only) success after 28 years of trying on board the Colin Tizzard-trained
Wise Men Say in a novices' hurdle at Wincanton. His performance in the saddle
was somewhat overshadowed by his celebrations, which included standing up in
the saddle waving a fist at the crowd in the closing stages. His ebullience
over his stable star Hunt Ball has also landed Knott in hot water with the BHA,
who fined the farmer £100 after he jumped on board the horse before Hunt Ball
entered the winner's enclosure at Wincanton in January, 2012. Knott's
unwavering confidence in Hunt Ball was handsomely rewarded at the Cheltenham
Festival in 2012, when he collected more than £500,000 in winning bets after
the Listed Pulteney Land Investments Novices' Handicap Chase - "I
didn't think that I would be able to go home because even the paper boys had
backed it. I thought that I would never be able to go back to Dorset if it
lost. I just hoped everybody lumped on and cleaned up." This season could
well follow in a similar vein as Knott is reportedly set to win £1million if
Hunt Ball is successful in the Betfred Cheltenham Gold Cup at The Festival in
March. Knott sparked a national security alert after watching Hunt Ball finish
third in the Betfred Bowl at Aintree in April when a helicopter he was
travelling home in with his son Lewis and daughter Katy accidently sent out a
distress signal, resulting in a pair of Typhoon jets being scrambled to
intercept the aircraft. Despite his love of racing, Knott's number one priority
is his herd of 300 cows and he gets up every morning at 3.30am to milk them.
There is a Hunt Ball anthem, Lump On, sung by Hot Rod 57.
Keiran Burke
Keiran
Burke, who was born in Yeovil on November 15, 1985, is a Cheltenham
Festival-winning jockey who started training in the summer of 2011. His family
have no connection with racing and Burke started riding out on weekends for
local trainer Colin Tizzard when he was at school. He rode his first winner on
board the Tizzard-trained Icare D'Oudairies, who was owned by Anthony Knott, at
Cheltenham's Open Meeting in November, 2003. He struck up a strong partnership
with trainer Pat Rodford and the pair enjoyed notable success with Sparky May,
a Grade Two winner over hurdles and runner-up in the OLBG Mares' Hurdle at The
Festival in 2011. Burke and Rodford also enjoyed a first Cheltenham Festival
success in 2011 as Holmwood Legend posted a 25/1 victory in the Byrne Group
Plate. Burke had intended to continue riding after taking over the licence to
train from Rodford at the end of the 2010/2011 season but he was forced to
retire from the saddle after being kicked by a horse in April, 2011, which
resulted in him losing his spleen and a four-day spell in intensive care. His
first winner as a trainer was Fortification, who captured an Exeter handicap
chase on November 1, 2011. He had 10 successes in his first season and Hunt
Ball proved to be the stable star last season, winning seven times including
enjoying an impressive victory in the Listed Pulteney Land Investments Novices'
Handicap Chase at Cheltenham. He currently has 10 horses in training.
Paddy
Power Gold Cup Record: 2011 Holmwood Legend (16th)
Nick
Scholfield
Nick
Scholfield was born on June 25, 1989, and his first mount under Rules was also
his first winner, Lou Du Moulin Mas, in an amateur riders' event at Newbury in
November 2006. By the end of his first season, Scholfield, brought up riding
ponies in his native Devon, had ridden six winners from just 14 rides under
Rules, and had gained the national novice riders' title in point-to-points with
a record 25 winners. His father, Philip, was British champion between the flags
in 1988. Scholfield jnr's impressive strike-rate continued into the 2007/08
season as, backed by the powerful Somerset stable of Paul Nicholls, he became
champion gentleman amateur with 20 victories to his name. A prolific spring saw
Scholfield ride 13 winners in March and April, 2008, headed by Natal's victory
in a Grade Three handicap chase at Newbury and the success of Border Castle in
the Grade Two Scottish Champion Hurdle at Ayr. Scholfield decided to turn
professional immediately after the 2007/08 campaign and enjoyed success with
his first ride as a paid jockey aboard Double The Trouble at Towcester on April
28, 2008. He has continued to ride for Paul Nicholls, although he was also
appointed the retained jockey to the Andy Turnell stable in April, 2009, and
his major wins have included Micheal Flips in the Lanzarote Hurdle at Kempton
and on Taranis in the Argento Chase at Cheltenham. He was second behind Rhys
Flint in the conditional jockeys' championship in 2009/2010, going down by four
wins in a thrilling battle for the title.He broke his right leg in a Fakenham
fall in May, 2011, but bounced back to record his best total of 48 winners for
the 2011/2012 season. Scholfield has partnered Hunt Ball to three of his
victories, most notably when securing a first Cheltenham Festival win in the
Listed Pulteney Land Investments Novices' Handicap Chase.
Paddy Power Gold Cup Record: 2010 Gwanako (Fell)
No comments:
Post a Comment