Tizzard plots a Cheltenham Gold Cup repeat for Native River

A day after his gallant performance in winning the Cheltenham Gold Cup, Native River made what is likely to be his last public appearance for some time, mixing with an adoring south Somerset crowd in Henstridge, a village a few miles from his stable. Well over 100 people showed up despite freezing temperatures and falling snow to cheer the chestnut as he was paraded, along with the trophy he won, outside the Virginia Ash pub where celebrations had continued into the small hours.

Colin Tizzard, Native River’s trainer, was delighted by how well his horse had taken Friday’s race, just his second outing of this season. But Tizzard is not tempted to rush him back to the track for one of the end-of-term prizes at Aintree or Punchestown and will instead contemplate another light campaign aimed at next year’s Gold Cup.

“Everything for the rest of his life is going to be geared around the Gold Cup, isn’t it?” the trainer said. “Not trying to win a King George or anything like that, I don’t think that’d suit him. Whether he has two runs, three runs, four runs next year, I don’t know. I’d have thought we could race him more.

READ MORE: Native River prevails in Cheltenham Gold Cup duel

“Last year [when Native River was third] he didn’t come up the hill, because we’d raced him plenty. This year he had that energy left in him. That’s probably the most significant thing over the season, he hasn’t been raced that much.

“Bringing the horse up here, he’s enjoying it as much as we are. I think he is anyway. It’s lovely so many people have turned up. I thought we were gonna have 20 or 30 and everyone’s turned up.”

Tizzard recalled how downbeat he had felt on Gold Cup morning, at which point Irish raiders had dominated the Festival and his own runners had failed to figure. “It’s not easy. People were asking me what English racing can do to keep up. It’s swings and roundabouts, isn’t it? Yesterday it was mostly English winners.”

On that subject, there was a hurt response from the Irish Turf Club to the news on Friday that British racing officials want a measure of regulatory change in Ireland to ensure a level playing field between the two countries. “I’m very surprised,” said Denis Egan, the Turf Club chief executive, adding that no concerns had been raised with him while he was in Cheltenham last week.

In particular, Egan gave short shrift to the suggestion that there might be any deficiency in Ireland’s doping control programme. “Last year, we tested over 4,000 horses at the racecourse, in point-to-points and out of competition,” Egan said. He added that, in common with the British Horseracing Authority, it was his organisation’s intention to increase out-of-competition testing, which accounted for 10% of tests taken last year.

Regal Flow was an emphatic winner of Saturday’s Midlands Grand National, coming home 10 lengths clear in Uttoxeter’s marathon. Bob Buckler’s horse was making an unusually quick return to the track, having also won at Taunton on Monday.