Alvarado provides fitting win as Wetherby draws healthy crowd

It was a point not lost on Moloney after a late burst on Alvarado secured the Bobby Renton Handicap Steeplechase, the centrepiece of Wetherby’s season-opening fixture which celebrates the life of the man who trained Freebooter to win the 1950 National from his iconic stables at Oxclose near Ripon.

Alvarado, a course winner at the West Yorkshire track back in January 2011, is owned by William and Angela Rucker whose State of Play – a former Charlie Hall winner at Wetherby – was placed in three successive Nationals from 2009-11 without ever getting his head in front.

Moloney then switched to Cappa Bleu, also owned by the Ruckers’ this year, and this most exciting of chasers – a former winner of the Cheltenham Foxhunters – finished fourth to the now retired Neptune Collonges.

“You’re nothing without good horses,” said Moloney. “The owners have been great to me and fourth in four Nationals running – people don’t realise just how difficult that is.

“State of Play, he hardly ever raced between the Nationals, because he was so fragile. Great memories, especially when winning the Charlie Hall on him here. Wetherby’s not a lucky track, I don’t believe in luck. Good horses, that’s what you want.

“Cappa Bleu is definitely a horse to follow, he’d be one to look forward to, but I like Alvarado. He’s a nice horse, but I think the front two were coming back to me at the end rather than him running on.”

A dramatic two-and-a-half mile race saw Montoya’s Son fall at the third – and bring down the luckless Tough Talkin Man. It left Sam Twiston-Davies on Pigeon Island, a 2010 Cheltenham winner, vying for supremacy with Harry Haynes, riding Lease Lend, who appeared to show no ill-effects from a 551-day lay-off.

Both were clear heading to the final fence – Moloney was only fifth heading over the penultimate obstacle – but they began to tire and were powerless to stop the late thrust of Alvarado, who was full of momentum after pinging the last.

Despite the standing water on the centre of the track, Wetherby was rewarded with a healthy crowd on a drying afternoon – some reminiscing about Renton, who was a sprightly 75 years old when he rode in his last race, a Hexham selling hurdle in September 1963, thereby making him Britain’s oldest jockey.

Others simply wanted to catch a glimpse of the magnificent Opposition Buzz, who won eventing team silver at the London Olympics under Northallerton-rider Nicola Wilson.

Immaculate with the white bandaging on his legs in pristine condition, he was resplendent in his Team GB rug and received a heartwarming round of applause when paraded in the paddock.

Though not a regular racegoer, Wilson said she was heartened by the turnout – and that Opposition Buzz’s primary target next season would be the world-famous Badminton Horse Trials in May.

Meanwhile, Tom Scudamore took the riding honours with an eyecatching double. The well-backed I Shot The Sheriff showed an impressive turn of speed to land the opener, and is clearly a novice hurdler going places, before African Broadway took the beginners’ steeplechase, the David Pipe-trained horse silhouetted by the sun as he galloped up the home straight.

Like many, he was keen to just glimpse Opposition Buzz and said how Britain’s successful staging of the London Olympics had made him, and many others, “very proud” of their country.

As for the season ahead, he reports Grand Crus to be progressing very well after the richly promising novice chaser suffered a disappointing reverse in the RSA Chase at the Cheltenham Festival; connections say the grey, a one-time rival to the brilliant long distance hurdler Big Buck’s, scoped badly after the race.

Scudamore also says The Giant Bolster, who was second to the ill-fated Synchronised in the Gold Cup, is in tremendous form and could, potentially, reappear in the £100,000 Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby on November 2.

Tim Easterby’s impressive form continued when Tiptoeaway won the handicap chase – he reeled in the runaway leader Cool Touch who the aforementioned Twiston-Davies had struggled to handle in the early stages.

If Cool Touch can be tamed, he is one to follow – just like Sue Smith’s Mr Moonshine, a potential rival to Grands Crus, who will come on for his second-placed finish in the concluding hurdle behind rank outsider Trucking Along.

There was also a winner for AP McCoy to warm the crowd; the 17-times champion, still lame from a recent fall, nursed the JP McManus-owned and Jonjo O’Neill-trained Dursey Sound into his novice hurdle before pulling clear. Bigger tests await.

One horse that McCoy is looking forward to ridding is Grand National second Sunnyhill Boy, and O’Neill said all roads lead back to Aintree after the nine-year-old was beaten in the final stride by Neptune Collonges, the closest finish in the race’s illustrious history.

O’Neill intends to run Sunnyhill Boy over hurdles in the first half of the campaign in an attempt to preserve his handicap mark.

“He’s back in and is in great old form – he’s sound as a pound,” he said.

“We’ll find a couple of races with him and hopefully go to Aintree again – that would be the plan. He’s not the biggest horse in the world, he wouldn’t want much more weight.

“We’ll probably campaign him over hurdles for now and see how we get on.”

Divers resurfaces at Cheltenham

DIVERS, Ferdy Murphy’s 2011 National Hunt Festival winner, will reappear at Cheltenham this Saturday.

Jockey Robert Thornton will be in the saddle, the West Witton handler keen to have a rider who will be able to make a light weight in next month’s Paddy Power Gold Cup back at the home of jump racing.

The early indications are that Alan King will not require Thornton’s services.

Divers was third in the Paddy Power last year, but Murphy believes Balding Banker – a new recruit – will be his horse to follow in 2012-13.

He was a £12,000 summer acquisition from the yard of champion trainer Paul Nicholls and Murphy told the Yorkshire Post: “He’s a very nice horse and very straight-forward.

“I wish I had a few more like him.”