Edwardstone will bid to give Alan King a third win in the Sporting Life Arkle at Cheltenham and the current favourite has his trainer excited.
It’s little wonder. After being brought down on his reappearance at Warwick, he’s won his last four starts including the Grade One Henry VIII Chase at Sandown.
He completed his public preparations for Cheltenham with a thumping defeat of Third Time Lucki in the Kingmaker at Sandown and a horse who has long threatened to dine there, has arrived at the top table.
“We always thought he was very good. He never actually won a bumper but he was second three times and bumped into some really useful horses,” King said.
“He won first time over hurdles but was always a bit keen and free, so we tried to drop him right out and get him to race properly. As the season went on last year, in those big handicaps, he learned an awful lot.
“It took us a couple of years to get where we are now where he relaxes well and you can sit him just off the pace. He was probably running a lot better in those top handicaps than it appeared as he was coming from right out the back to finish fourth or fifth, making up a lot of ground.
“Now we can ride just behind which should make life a lot easier.”
There was a stuttering start to Edwardstone’s career over fences when he unseated the rider at the fourth in a Doncaster novice handicap in December 2020.
“If he’d have won on that chasing debut we’d have kicked on last year and probably gone to the Arkle then but we were getting into January and I just felt it was too late to continue so we switched back to hurdles and ran in the Betfair, County and at Aintree and they made a man of him,” King explained.
“He’s very special. I haven’t had one a good as him for a long time. He’s good and this season it’s all gone well, he’s built up and progressed. The day he got brought down we were wide of the horse that fell but he didn’t fall normally – he went sideways – and completely poleaxed us but thankfully both horses and jockeys were fine.
“He then had three fairly quick runs. I looked through and there was only the Henry VIII through to Christmas and I thought if we got a freeze-up we’d be struggling so we rolled the dice and went to Sandown.
“The time was good, it compared favourable to the Tingle Creek and that was a solid, solid performance. He rolled out of it well so we went to Kempton at Christmas and he had a quiet spell at the beginning of January and we built him up to the Kingmaker.
“He can still get very fresh which was why I was keen to give him a prep there. I didn’t want to go straight to Cheltenham from Kempton, I thought he could be too fresh for that.
“He’s beaten the right horses, the times confirm it as well. Warwick is a good test for a novice, they have to jump but it’s not trappy and I love to run novices around there and have done for many years, Voy Por Ustedes and Halcon Genelardais to name but two. It’s a good test.”
So what of his chances in the Sporting Life Arkle?
“You’ve just got to do your own thing. I’m only interested in getting Edwardstone there in the best of form and we’ll see what happens. The Irish will be tough to hold but we’ll see if we can do a wee bit of damage.
“I watched the Arkle at Leopardstown and I thought Gordon’s mare (Riviere D’Etal) was a little unlucky not to win but I did think it was the first proper race Willie’s horse (Blue Lord) has had and he might just come on a bundle for that.
“On his second run over fences I think they basically took half the fences out and he just galloped round on the flat. I think he might come on a lot for that run. They’ll be tough to beat but we’ll give it our best shot.”
Some point to Edwardstone having never won at Cheltenham before as being a negative towards his Arkle chance but it doesn’t concern connections.
“He’s run some very solid races there, running very well in a couple of Greatwoods when as I said we had to ride him from the back of the field so you can probably upgrade those performances. I see no reason why he won’t handle it,” the trainer responded.
Voy Por Ustedes and My Way De Solzen were King’s previous winners of the race and he was David Nicholson’s assistant at the time Waterloo Boy won the Sporting Life Arkle.
He’s a trainer with a big-race pedigree but even he will be feeling the nerves on the opening day of Cheltenham.
“I’ll probably struggle to eat any lunch on Tuesday but that’s what you do the job for. You want to have good horses and the nerves and anticipation that come with them. Hopefully it won’t kick in too early, and it takes a lot more than a horse race to stop me from sleeping.”