Injured Thistlecrack will miss Cheltenham Gold Cup

ante-post favourite Thistlecrack's injury-enforced absence from next month's Timico Cheltenham Gold Cup illustrates racing's fine margins.
Thistlecrack will not contest the Gold Cup due to a tendon injury (Picture: PA).Thistlecrack will not contest the Gold Cup due to a tendon injury (Picture: PA).
Thistlecrack will not contest the Gold Cup due to a tendon injury (Picture: PA).

After discovering an innocuous-looking knock at trainer Colin Tizzard’s stables, Thistlecrack means so much to connections that they were not prepared to risk the horse who made history on Boxing Day when becoming the first novice to win Kempton’s King George VI Chase.

Though Tizzard still holds a formidable hand with a resurgent Cue Card, Welsh National winner Native River and the under-estimated Theatre Guide, next month’s blue riband race has lost some of its lustre – the two previous winners Coneygree and Don Cossack are among other high-profile absentees from the National Hunt Festival.

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The tendon injury to last year’s Stayers’ Hurdle champion also puts the past successes of Henrietta Knight’s triple Gold Cup winner Best Mate, or the Paul Nicholls-trained Kauto Star, into perspective.

Many Clouds and ThistlecrackMany Clouds and Thistlecrack
Many Clouds and Thistlecrack

“It is not just about winning on the day, it is about the physical wellbeing of these most fragile, equine athletes.

The news came on the day Yorkshire training legend Michael Dickinson, who saddled the first five home in the 1983 Gold Cup, warned Tizzard to take nothing for granted and that it would be impossible to enjoy the big race build-up.

“Thistlecrack is out for the season, unfortunately,” said Tizzard. “He had a bit of heat in his leg (Monday night) and was a bit sore. We had the leg scanned (Tuesday morning) and he has a slight tear on his tendon. We’ve seen it at every yard and it happens every year.

“We’ve had worse things happen in life.”

Many Clouds and ThistlecrackMany Clouds and Thistlecrack
Many Clouds and Thistlecrack
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However the trainer hopes it is not a career-ending injury. “We know it’s not very serious, we haven’t done much with him since the Cotswold Chase because he had a hard race, he had a little cough afterwards and got a bit light so we were just cantering,” he added last night.

“We hadn’t done any fast work with him, we thought we’d give him a busy week this week.

“Obviously it stems from the race, but that’s racing, that’s horses for you. It’s not very bad, it’s not like breaking down, it’s just a little bit sore there, a bit of heat.

“I asked the vet ‘are we talking about next season off?’, or are we talking about from Christmas on and he’ll be fine, and he said he should be absolutely fine by Christmas, to have him back on a racecourse by then.

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“It’s not that we’re going to miss next season, but things change. I’m as sure as I can be, he should be fine for next season from Christmas on.”

John Snook owns Thistlecrack with his wife Heather and admitted it came as a bitter blow when he received the dreaded phone call.

Ridden by Tom Scudamore, Thistlecrack had won his first four races over fences, culminating in the King George, before losing narrowly to 2015 Grand National winner Many Clouds at Cheltenham last month – a race marred by the death of the Oliver Sherwood-trained victor from an internal haemorrhage.

Snook said: “It’s very disappointing, but it’s one of those things that happens with horses. We’ve seen it happen to Willie Mullins with the likes of Annie Power and Faugheen, and of course Oliver Sherwood after what happened to Many Clouds. Hopefully we still have a horse.”

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Their disappointment was put into perspective by the moving message from Sherwood, who won the admiration of all with his dignified interviews following the death of Many Clouds minutes after winning the Cotswold Chase.

“We all know how hard it is to keep racehorses fit, healthy and injury free,” said Sherwood. “To get good horses to their target races year after year is a real achievement in itself.

“For Paul Nicholls to have even got Kauto Star to five King Georges is amazing, let alone win them, and the same goes for Best Mate under Henrietta Knight’s guidance.

“I feel so sorry for the Tizzard team after hearing the sad news about Thistlecrack. They and the Snooks were incredibly kind to us after the loss of Many Clouds and we were dearly hoping he could win the Gold Cup as a tribute to Clouds. It wasn’t meant to be and we wish him a full and speedy recovery.”

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This view was shared by top jockey Ruby Walsh, who rode Kauto Star to Gold Cup glory in 2007 and 2009.

Walsh, who is due to ride last year’s runner-up Djakadam in this year’s renewal, said: “You’d love to wrap them in cotton wool, but you can’t. If you wrap them in cotton wool and go there half ready you won’t win. But that’s sport. Whatever sport it is there will be injuries.”

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