Cloudy Too shows his mettle on heavy ground

THE fact that Sue Smith's staying steeplechaser Cloudy Too won the prestigious Peter Marsh Chase by 15 lengths needs to be set in the context of the horse's fragile health over the past 18 months.
Jockey Danny Cook rode steeplechaser Cloudy Too to victory in the prestigious Peter Marsh Chase (Picture: Bruce Rollinson).Jockey Danny Cook rode steeplechaser Cloudy Too to victory in the prestigious Peter Marsh Chase (Picture: Bruce Rollinson).
Jockey Danny Cook rode steeplechaser Cloudy Too to victory in the prestigious Peter Marsh Chase (Picture: Bruce Rollinson).

Winning for the first time since landing Wetherby’s Rowland Meyrick Chase on Boxing Day 2013, this is a mudlark who endured a spell on the sidelines with a fibrillating heart – a condition which has afflicted Sprinter Sacre among others.

Indeed, Cloudy Too’s form was so discouraging earlier this season that an honourable retirement was contemplated before the gelding showed some of his old zest when third in Haydock’s Tommy Whittle Chase just before Christmas.

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Back at the Merseyside track for Saturday’s Grade Two test over three stamina-sapping miles, Cloudy Too’s cause was helped by the bottomless ground that he relishes, a more realistic handicap mark for a horse who was good enough to run in the 2014 Cheltenham Gold Cup, and the pacesetting Gas Line Boy unseating Brian Hughes following a shuddering mistake at the fifth last fence.

Yet Danny Cook, riding with so much confidence in these big races, appeared to be travelling slightly better than the luckless Gas Line Boy and was then able to get a breather into his mount before jumping the final four fences in the home straight in splendid isolation as the pursuers gave vain chase in the desperate conditions.

“All his form is on heavy ground,” said a delighted Cook.

“If this race had been on better ground, we would probably have struggled. He got into a nice rhythm and we were able to kick off the home turn. Earlier in the season, I rode him at Bangor and said to Sue, ‘I think he’s gone’.

“It’s a credit to everyone at Craiglands Farm. He had lost his way, but they got him back. They do the hard work in all weathers and deserve the plaudits.”

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With High Eldwick-based Smith and her husband Harvey flying back from Spain when Cloudy Too prevailed, much of the credit goes to their assistant Ryan Clavin who oversaw the horse’s preparations in far from ideal weather high up on Baildon Moor.

They have also decided to give the horse some time off – the winning trainer said it was “a fairly hardy slog” – before deciding future targets that will be ground dependent.

As for Cloudy Too who runs in the claret and blue colours of Formulated Polymer Producers, owner Neil Howarth and his family were simply delighted that their patience – and faith – in the 10-year-old horse had been vindicated.

“It was fantastic. It was like he was back to his best,” Howarth told The Yorkshire Post. “When Harvey first bought him at Doncaster Sales, his first run was at Wetherby (October 2010) and he pulled up and his heart was not right.

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“He had the treatment and was off for six months before getting a rating of 157 in the season he won the Rowland Meyrick, was second in a Grade One at Ascot and then ran in the Gold Cup.

“It was October 2014 and they were getting him ready for the Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby when Sue rang to say the problem had come back. He had to have his treatment again, it’s like a poison, but it didn’t work. We thought we had lost him as a racehorse.

“It was only when Harvey got some secondary advice from a lady vet at Haydock, also an expert at one of the universities, that we decided to give it another go and it worked. Cloudy Too lost a big dose of confidence; it’s like a human having a heart attack and putting themselves under pressure.

“As a result, he has gone down in the weights, but the ground is the most important factor. He knows he’s had a race, but he’s fine.”

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