Gidleigh Park carrying great expectations ahead of chasing debut
Harry Fry believes Gidleigh Park is as exciting a prospect as he has ever sent over fences ahead of his seasonal debut in the Copybet Novices’ Limited Handicap Chase at Ascot on Friday.
Winner of his first three starts over hurdles, including a Grade Two at Cheltenham, he went on to finish sixth in the Albert Bartlett at the Festival in March.
Fry is still kicking himself for running Gidleigh Park in that race on soft ground, feeling it tested his stamina, but he is one for whom everything has been leading towards the bigger obstacles.
“We’ve always thought Gidleigh Park’s future would lie over fences, and we’ve been delighted to see him school so brilliantly at home. The lack of rain this autumn has made us wait, but now the heavens have opened, we can’t wait to get started at Ascot on Friday,” he told Grosvenor Sport.
“We’ve made no secret of the high regard that we hold him in and of the hopes we have for him, so fingers crossed he can put in a good, clean round of jumping at Ascot to kick off his season.
“We’re obviously dropping him back in trip from his run in the Albert Bartlett to two-and-a-quarter miles at Ascot. The more I think about it, the more I can’t believe we ran him in the Albert Bartlett. This is a horse with loads of speed and we’re looking forward to making the most of that on Friday and beyond.
“His optimum trip would probably be two-and-a-half miles, but we’ll see, as I think he’ll tell us more once we’ve got our campaign under way. Eventually, he will be a three-miler, but we’ve no problem with bringing him back in distance for the moment. We can’t wait to see how his season unfolds.
“Right here, right now, I think Gidleigh Park is probably as exciting a novice chase prospect as we’ve ever had. Hopefully he can deliver on that promise, but he certainly gives us a huge amount to look forward to.”
Gidleigh Park faces far from a walkover, with Charlie Longsdon’s Rare Edition having already won over fences, among the five-runner field.
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