“EVERYTHING IS ON THE CARDS” FOR NEWBURY-BOUND GRANDERO BELLO
Oct 29, 2024
Tuesday 29th October, 2024 – It’s exciting times at the Eddie & Patrick Harty stable following Grandero Bello’s Galway win on Sunday, with the £50,000 purchase now being lined up for his first visit to England.
Bought at ThoroughBid’s December Sale in 2021 and co-owned by Nicky Henderson’s sister, Josie Reed, the eight-year-old, who only raced once last campaign, is now set to contest the Coral Gold Cup at Newbury on Saturday 30thNovember.
Eddie’s son and training partner, Patrick, confirmed: “He’s going to go to Newbury next for the Coral Gold Cup. His owners are British, Josie [Reed, owner] grew up in Newbury and doesn’t live too far from there, and she and Robert [Caddick, owner], though they love having the horse in-training in Ireland, have always had the plan and the hope that he’d be able to run in something in England.
On the Galway win, Harty said: “He jumped great, travelled great and loved the ground. Having had more than six months off, he was probably fitter than we thought he was, though he had been back in work for a while. We had initially planned on running at the Galway Festival, but the ground was quick, and then we didn’t declare for the Kerry National at Listowel when the ground was good-to-yielding. It actually turned up soft on the day, but Flooring Porter was never going to be beaten, so it wasn’t the worst thing in the world. He was then declared for the Munster National last weekend, but the rain didn’t come again, and the owners have had to be incredibly patient, so a big thank you to them.
“He hadn’t done any serious work ahead of Sunday’s run, but I suppose he’s been in-training for a while now and has done plenty at home, so he was fit enough. He loved the ground and is a soft ground horse. He’s a winter horse, was bought as a winter horse and remains a winter horse. His jumping was fantastic. He saved ground or made ground at every fence, and when he winged the last two and hit the front coming up the dip I thought that’s been a huge run so far and if he takes a blow and is beaten we’d be satisfied, but he seemed to be fitter than we thought and saw it out really well.”
Having been bought for £50,000 back in December of 2021, making him one of the biggest sales the online auction house had facilitated in its early days, he quickly went on to claim ThoroughBid’s popular Point2Rules Bonus.
The son of Great Pretender then went on to win a beginners’ chase at Gowran Park before finishing runner-up of a Grade 3 chase at Limerick and fourth in a Grade A contest at Punchestown. He was only seen once in the 2023/24 campaign, but Harty confirmed the eight-year-old is now ready for a big season ahead: “After Newbury, who knows? He’s a smart handicapper now and will have a nice racing weight in all the top handicap chases.
“Everything is on the cards, including the Paddy Power Chase at Leopardstown over Christmas, the Cheltenham Festival, where there’s a couple of options, and then the Grand National at Aintree and the Irish National, they are all open to him and the dream is very much alive. He’s back on track and we’re excited about what’s to come.”
ThoroughBid’s next sale will take place on Wednesday 13thNovember and is open to entries from Yearlings, Stores, Horses-in-Training and broodmares. Like Grandero Bello, any Pointers sold will be eligible for the £5,000 Point2Rules Bonus.
Details of the November Sale: https://thoroughbid.co.uk/collections and Point2Rules Bonus: https://thoroughbid.co.uk/point2rules-bonus