Tom Scudamore: “I’ve been looking forward to riding him in this race all summer”
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Coral ambassador Tom Scudamore previews his weekend rides at Newbury and Carlisle, including Gericault Roque in the Coral Gold Cup on Saturday.
I can’t wait this weekend. The Coral Gold Cup is undoubtedly one of the races I look forward to riding in most. It’s the Gold Cup for handicappers, and It’s a race that’s been very good to both me and my family.
It’s still one of the highlights of the season, and a race that everybody wants to win. Coral have had a long association with so many of these staying chases, and to add this one to the portfolio is fantastic.
Saturday
My first ride on Saturday is Java Point for Tom George. I’ve never ridden him before, but he’s only 3lb higher than when winning here back in April and he’s got a good strike rate over fences.
It certainly looks a competitive race and It’s his first run of the season, but the yard’s horses are in good form and I’m sure he’ll be raring to go.
The decision to ride Gericault Roque over Remastered was one I made quite a while ago, and if I’m honest, I’ve been looking forward to riding him in this race all summer.
I wasn’t too surprised when we were beaten by Remastered at Aintree, as my lad had to run off his chase mark, while Remastered was running off his lower hurdles mark, so at the weights, he was entitled to beat us.
Having said that, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little disappointed with how Gericault Roque ran, as I’d have liked him to have taken me a bit further into the race. We knew he’d improve for the run, but we were beaten before turning in.
It was frustrating last year, as he kept running good races in defeat, but just came up short. We couldn’t put our finger on it, but maybe he was just a young progressive chaser, bumping into other young progressive chasers. He’s in great order at home now, and we are very happy with him.
It’s certainly a competitive race this year, but the winner would be looking to progress into a Gold Cup horse. It’s those second-season chasers you’re looking towards, who have the potential to run in those Graded races later in the season.
Other than our horses, the two that I’d fear most would be Corach Rambler and Busselton, as they could be the ones to progress to that next level.
Bun Doran is another horse I’ve never ridden before, but he’s a good solid performer. He’s won off much higher marks than this in the past, and the handicapper has certainly given him a chance, but I’d suspect Amarillo Sky is going to be a tough nut to crack.
Bun Doran is 11 now, but he still looks to retain plenty of ability, as he showed when winning off this mark at Doncaster in March, and I’m hopeful we’ll be competitive.
Sunday
Upton Road is a horse I like a lot. He’s had his problems, but as a result he hasn’t got many miles on the clock and whatever happens on Sunday, I suspect he’s going to pop up somewhere along the line.
We’d probably prefer to run him over shorter, but options are limited with him, as he needs heavy ground and we’d like to keep him going right-handed. He did win a point-to-point in Ireland, so hopefully the trip won’t be too much of a problem.
Tom
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