Ruth Jefferson on the ups and downs of life with Waiting Patiently

The most fragile horse she’s trained, the Richard Collins-owned steeplechaser is also the most talented at her Malton stables.

Off the track for a year, Waiting Patiently – or ‘Pats’ as the trainer calls him – rolled back the years to chase home Frodon in Kempton’s King George VI Chase on Boxing Day.

Now, after four clear weeks in terms of form and fitness, Jefferson hopes her stable’s standard-bearer can go one better in today’s Group One Matchbook Betting Exchange Clarence House Chase at Ascot.

Dropping back in trip from three miles to just over two miles is a big ask of a 10-year-old who has winning form, as a novice, over the Paul Nicholls-trained Queen Mother Champion Chase hero Politologue who is favourite.

But Waiting Patiently’s finest hour came at the Berkshire track in February 2018 when landing the Grade One Ascot Chase on a tide of emotion after the death, and funeral, of Jefferson’s much missed late father Malcolm.

And, after being ridden with restraint in both the 2019 Tingle Creek when third, and then last month’s King George, Jefferson will be hoping that champion jockey Brian Hughes doesn’t leave Waiting Patiently with too much to do.

It is very rare for connections – owner, trainer and jockey – to have a Grade One contender and Jefferson is keen to take advantage of Waiting Patiently’s wellbeing.

“He’s a remarkable horse really. I know he’s not young any more, but he’s not run much and doesn’t think he’s old,” said the trainer as she reflected on the horses’s seven wins from 14 starts.

“He comes back time and again, and runs his race. You can’t really ask for more than that, but I would like another Grade One on his CV.

“He had a bone spur that put him out of the Arkle as a novice chaser – then the following season he was due to go to Cheltenham in November, December and January and had a lung infection.

“After he won the Ascot Chase he got a touch of a leg injury, and we didn’t know if we were going to get him back, and since then we’ve had a chip that needed removing and a lung infection was resistant to 16 of 17 antibiotics it was that rare!

“He’s just that sort of horse. There’s always something with him, and you don’t know what’s coming next, but he’s worth spending the money on because he always comes back at that level.

“He’s a joy and a headache to train. I’m not sure I’ve got another one like him in the yard at the moment – they’re not easy to come across when you’re someone like me.”

Jefferson remains much respected by her fellow trainers for upholding her father’s legacy, hence why she had to be certain about Waiting Patiently’s form before making a Clarence House entry.

“He came out of the King George really well,” she told Great British Racing. “I had to ride him out two days later, because he’s quite an aggressive horse in his stable and he was going to hurt someone if we didn’t do something with him.”

Understandably, she is reluctant to make Cheltenham plans – the horse holds Champion Chase, Ryanair Chase and Gold Cup entries. She said: “Straight after the King George, Richard (Collins) rang me up and said ‘we’ll go for the Gold Cup’, but that was literally within 20 minutes of the race and he was very excited to have a Gold Cup contender. Five days later he wasn’t quite as convinced, but I said it would make me happy to enter him, and he agreed.

“We’ve put him in everything, because it’s still seven weeks until Cheltenham and I don’t know what the ground is going to be, what’s going to turn up and what’s going to pay the cost to come from Ireland. Why rule it out now when we’ve got seven weeks to think about it?”

But she’ll, hopefully, have a much clearer idea after today’s tough test.

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