East India Dock and Sam Twiston Davis © Photo Healy Racing
Owner-breeder Tim Gredley is excited by the potential squad of horses at his family’s disposal for the Cheltenham Festival.
Burdett Road made all in the hands of champion jockey Harry Cobden to win the Unibet Greatwood Handicap Hurdle at Cheltenham on Sunday, just a day after his half-brother East India Dock strolled to victory in the JCB Triumph Trial Juvenile Hurdle.
The Gredleys have a long and illustrious history with Flat horses, with Gredley’s father, Bill, synonymous with the likes of St Leger heroine User Friendly and Eclipse winner Environment Friend. But in partnership with trainer James Owen, they have developed a talent of switching Flat performers to the National Hunt arena in recent times.
Lavender Hill Mob is another whom the Gredleys have high hopes for over obstacles, while Liam Swagger is two for two over hurdles and the smart filly Ambiente Amigo also made a winning start over timber.
Burdett Road had a successful summer campaign and victory in the Listed Godolphin Stakes at Newmarket earned him a shot in the Ascot Gold Cup, where he was not disgraced in being beaten seven and three-quarter lengths by Kyprios.
That engagement delayed his return to hurdling, but he took the two-month break in his stride to hold off Be Aware by half a length on the Old course, earning quotes for the Champion Hurdle back at Cheltenham in March.
Gredley said: “It was brilliant wasn’t it. In fairness it was kind of a plan we made in the middle of the year to go for that race and James has done a great job in just switching him off.
“We kind of hoped that sending him off in front he would drop the bridle, we tried it at Newmarket and it worked there so we were quite confident and it’s nice when a plan comes off and he was obviously given a very good ride from Harry Cobden.
“I’m just delighted because I love the horse – he’s such a warrior. He always put 110 per cent in and it’s nice when those horses get rewarded for it.
“We’ll let the dust settle and see how’s come out of the race (before making plans). He’s also done quite a lot of racing recently so we’ll speak to James, but it’s a nice problem to have.
“We’re in no rush, that was the plan. The plan’s come off and obviously no one wants to say it, but everybody wants to have runners at the Cheltenham Festival so for sure he’ll run there in something, but the plan with all of our jumpers is to have as many runners at the Festival (as we can).
“We’re just trying to manoeuvre our way around to get as many horses in that week in competitive races.
East India Dock maintained his winning record over hurdles when coming home 18 lengths clear of the field and the Triumph Hurdle at the Festival remains the target for the three-year-old.
Gredley added: “Very exciting. Although he’s a half-brother to Burdett Road he’s very different, there’s a lot more of him, he’s much more substantial. And I kind of hoped that we would take to jumping because he’s built for it a bit better than Burdett Road.
“The Fanshawes had him on the Flat, he was actually Ambiente Friendly’s lead horse for half his life so he was probably a bit sick of being lapped at home!
“It’s nice. He’s just been progressive this whole time with his pedigree being by Golden Horn, we were hoping he was always going to get a bit better.
“He’s really taken to jumping well, which makes a big difference, and Sam (Twiston-Davies) was really impressed with him. I don’t know how strong the race will be when you look back at it. He can only do what he can and he won really well.
“We will try to run everything at Cheltenham that has a chance in those races, so the Triumph will be the target and James was saying we’d like to just run him one more time and then go from there.”
Lavender Hill Mob is another the Gredleys have high hopes for and he won at Goodwood handicap on the level before being last seen finishing seventh in the Queen’s Vase at Royal Ascot.
Gredley said: “He’s got the perfect profile for it, I think. He’s won on heavy ground at Goodwood.
“We know he stays two miles because he ran in that race at Royal Ascot and he finished off the race great.
“He had a little setback in the middle of the summer so he’s actually come back to Stetchworth and had a really good break and I think it’s been a bit of a blessing in disguise.
“He’s really filled out, he looks great, he’s still got a long way to go to be comparing him with East India Dock, but all the signs are good so far.
“James and I are going to sit down because I keep missing these things because of my showjumping. I was competing at Stuttgart in the World Cup on Sunday so I couldn’t make it. I’d like to try to have him have his first run at a time when I can come and watch him!
“But otherwise the plan is to maybe start him at Sandown or somewhere like that, but we’d like to pitch him in a deep race first time just to know what we’ve got really.”
Liam Swagger won on his hurdling debut and followed up in Wensleydale Juvenile Hurdle at Wetherby and is another likely heading for the Festival.
Gredley said: “To me he looks more like a Boodles horse (Fred Winter Juvenile Handicap Hurdle) so we’ll have to think about how we do that.
“Again he’s really tough, he’s really built for it. The mother, Bark, has really thrown us a lot of nice horses so we’ve been really lucky with her and we know that all of those horses will stay, so he’s very exciting. Which race he runs in at Cheltenham is still up in the air a little bit.”
Ambiente Amigo won on her hurdling debut at Newcastle last month and Gredley joked: “Don’t forget about Ambiente Amigo, she’s the good one.”
