Symonds: No need to fret over Long's Newbury win

LONG RUN did not come out of second gear to win at Newbury last week and is merely a more relaxed individual than last season according to Nicky Henderson's former assistant Tom Symonds.

Trained by Nicky Henderson for Robert Waley-Cohen, Long Run was eased in themarket to defend his Betfred Gold Cup crown after defeating stablemate Burton Port, who was having his first run for 447 days, by half a length in the Grade 2 Betfair Denman Chase.

Symonds, who rode Long Run daily before starting on his own as a trainer in the summer, feels the seven-year-old ran "a very good race" and requires more work to get him ready to run than was previously the case with thehorse having settled down in recent months.

He said: "The storm will fret until Gold Cup day as to whether it was a good performance or not, but from someone who knows the horse it looked clear that he ran a very good race; that's if he had one at all.

"For me Long Run has become rather idle and was only in second gear at Newbury.  He has seemingly relaxed and become more lackadaisical.

"It is notable that his earplugs are no longer needed. When he returned to training last summer, he was a much more relaxed individual who needed more chiding up the gallop. He was idling in front in the Gold Cup last year and was the same at Newbury.

"He is now a relentless galloper who probably takes a bit more work to get the oil into that huge engine. I seem to remember Aidan O'Brien describing Yeats in the same way in his latter years at Ballydoyle."

Symonds also added that Racing Post Arkle Chase favourite Sprinter Sacre, another trained by Henderson, is a horse that "has it all".

Writing in his Horse & Hound blog, Symonds said: "His ability to jump boldly and cleverly is something that you simply cannot teach a horse - they either have or they don't. This is a horse who has it all."