Definitly Red Books Place in Gold Cup with Aintree Win

The next stop for Definitly Red will be the Cheltenham Gold Cup according to his trainer Brian Ellison after he romped home to victory in the Many Clouds Chase at Aintree on Saturday. The horse has now won two races this season, and he will be kept fresh for the Gold Cup, so won’t run until then. This is a completely different gameplan by the yard, they ran him more than this last season, and they are clearly looking for bet builder formula that will give their horse the best chance of performing well in the big one.

After that, he is likely to go to the Aintree Bowl, although he will have an entry in the Grand National just incase, but this is a backup plan and Ellison has stressed this on more than one occasion now. He has previously had a tilt at the National, but the saddle slipped and he needed pulling up, when pretty much everything in the race looked to be going perfectly for him.

The horse ran in the race last season, but heavy ground ended his chances before the race had started really. He wasn’t able to travel with his normal fluency due to that, and could never get into the race with some top class horses in opposition. Red probably falls just short of top class, and he needs everything in his favour, along with running the race of his life, if he is to get close to the likes of Native River, Might Bite and Presenting Percy in the Cheltenham feature.

There has been a ressurgance in northern racing over the past few years and Definitly Red and the Brian Ellison yard have been at the forefront of that. With other top horses coming to the fore, this one isn’t alone with dreams of a Cheltenham festival win, and as far as racing goes, the north is firmly back on the map. There is a horse who could be waiting in the wings to take over as the northern flagbearer though, in just a few weeks from now in the King George at Kempton, Waiting Patiently will aim to show his credentials when he makes his seasonal reappearance for Ruth Jefferson.