Bleu on course for Hennessy

Cappa Bleu

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Evan Williams reports Cappa Bleu on course for the Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup at Newbury on November 28 despite a disappointing reappearance on Sunday.

The seven-year-old, who was trained by Sheila Crow when winning the Christie's Foxhunter Chase at this year's Cheltenham Festival, was last of three finishers behind Door Boy at Aintree on his first start for Williams.

But the Llancarfan trainer was far from disheartened and is still eyeing a trip to Newbury for the race he won with State Of Play in 2006.

"He's got a couple of nicks on his back legs," said Williams. "One did bleed quite a lot after the race which was a little bit of a concern at the time but he seems to be fine now.

"He is on a few antibiotics just to make sure that doesn't get infected. Apart from that he's fine.

"He has been competing against hunters and everything happens at a slower pace for them. The one thing we found out yesterday was that he does lack that experience when it comes to actually racing at true professional racing pace.

"That's the one thing that was glaringly obvious. His jumping was good but he was hanging in the air. He really did look like a very inexperienced horse against those with hurdling experience.

"I was so keen to run him. I had some criticism from some places for saying he was only 85% fit. I was only telling people the truth. There was no point me saying he was 100% ready when he wasn't. I was on a find-out mission.

"I know where I am now and I know a lot more about the horse and I can put the rest of the pieces of the jigsaw together.

"The Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup at Newbury will be his next run."