Coneygree: brilliant hero in a golden story of two remarkable families

Nico de Boinville, the rider propelled into the big time by Coneygree, sums it up perfectly. “It wasn’t only Coneygree the horse, it was all his connections – the Bradstocks and the link with Lord Oaksey and Lady Oaksey – and there was a real sense of the underdog taking on the big guns. Everyone loves an underdog.”

In an era where jump racing’s biggest prizes have come to be dominated by a small number of powerful owners and trainers, Coneygree’s rise from cheaply produced, gangly foal to brilliant Cheltenham Gold Cup winner was a romantic story of epic proportions. At its centre was a hero the racing public could not fail to take to their hearts for his combination of class and courage in the face of injury, misfortune and doubt, not to mention intense competition.

Coneygree was the product of two remarkable families, one human and one equine. He was bred by Lord Oaksey, trained by his son-in-law Mark Bradstock – helped in no small part by wife Sara, son Alfie and daughter Lily – and owned by a syndicate led by Chicky, Oaksey’s wife.

To reach the pinnacle of the Gold Cup was beyond their wildest dreams when they purchased the cheap mare Plaid Maid in the mid-1990s as an interest for Oaksey in his retirement. Having first given him many enjoyable days in her racing career, winning five times, Plaid Maid proceeded to produce first Carruthers, the 2011 Hennessy Gold Cup winner, and then his half-brother Coneygree and the talented hurdler/chaser Flintham.

Lord Oaksey with jockey Mattie Batchelor after Carruthers' win in the 2009 Mandarin ChaseCredit: Edward Whitaker

As Sara Bradstock reflects: “The whole thing is a fairytale. We bought the mare for a couple of grand to breed something for Dad and there’d already been Carruthers. And then along came Coneygree with his great big wobbly back legs, and there was Flintham too. What a family.”

That final sentence would apply equally to her own family. As well as being a much-loved broadcaster and fearless amateur rider, Lord Oaksey left an indelible mark on the sport as the founding father of the Injured Jockeys Fund. His love for old-fashioned jump racing has passed down the generations and when Carruthers won the Hennessy for the Bradstocks’ small Oxfordshire yard it was welcomed as a great triumph for the purists.

There was even better to come with Coneygree but the road that was paved with gold had several cracks along the way. Injuries meant he spent most of a four-year period from November 2014 to November 2018 on the sidelines, with three spells out for at least 350 days, but it was after the longest break that he came back for what Sara Bradstock describes as his “wonder year”.

CONEYGREE

Age 13
Starts 18
Wins 9
Biggest win 2015 Cheltenham Gold Cup
Prize-money £526,589
Racing Post Rating 178

After a promising novice hurdle campaign was cut short by a tendon injury that came about in freakish circumstances when he leaped in the air and landed on a flint, Coneygree was sidelined for 671 days before embarking belatedly on his novice chasing career just a month short of his official eighth birthday. He quickly made up for lost time, winning a Grade 2 at Newbury first time out followed by a runaway success in the Grade 1 Kauto Star Novices' Chase at Kempton’s Christmas meeting and another decisive victory when taken into open company in the Grade 2 Denman Chase at Newbury.

By now, his triumph over adversity, his popular connections and his powerful front-running style had made him a firm favourite, but opinion was divided over the wisdom of the decision to bypass the novice option of the RSA and go for Gold. There was much criticism, but for the Bradstocks the decision was a no-brainer.

“I was absolutely convinced we were doing the right thing,” says Sara. “He’d had a lot of time off just being a horse and he’d lived a bit. It was never a worry to me that he was a novice because he had some life experience on his side. And he also had this extraordinary focus. It wasn’t a worry that the roar of the crowd or the whole experience was going to get to him because it almost seemed that was irrelevant to him. He was always there to race and that was all.”

Vindication came in the most thrilling style. Taking his habitual place at the head of affairs, Coneygree set a searching gallop under Nico de Boinville, jumped superbly and fought off every challenge to score by a length and a half from Djakadam. Behind him were two former Gold Cup winners, a dual King George scorer, a soon-to-be Grand National hero, a Gold Cup runner-up and a host of other Grade 1 winners. The merit of the performance was reflected in a Racing Post Rating of 178 – the highest achieved by a novice in the history of RPRs, bettering the previous best of 176 recorded by Sprinter Sacre in the 2012 Arkle.

Nico de Boinville returns in triumph on Coneygree after the Cheltenham Gold CupCredit: Edward Whitaker

In becoming the first novice to strike gold since Captain Christy in 1974, Coneygree had proved himself a chaser of the highest order on just his fourth start over fences. By comparison, Best Mate won his first Gold Cup on his eighth chase start and Kauto Star on his 11th, while Denman did it on his ninth run over fences. For Coneygree to do it in four mighty leaps, with just three and a half months between his chase debut and that golden day, was astonishing.

The happy faces around the winner’s enclosure – from the crowd to the connections – told of an immensely popular triumph. Alfie, a highly skilled show jumper, had been instrumental in honing Coneygree’s jumping, while Lily, then 18, proudly led up the hero. The only one missing from the throng was Lord Oaksey, who had seen Carruthers win the Hennessy but had died in 2012 before Coneygree’s rise to even greater heights.

“That was the only sadness – that he wasn’t there – but he was there in spirit,” says Sara. “I always say to people that maybe we were paid back with that bit of good fortune for all the good he did in his life. It should give everybody hope that you don’t have to be Gigginstown or JP McManus. It is possible still to dream, because this was a dream born of two grand.”

The Bradstocks always stayed true to their principles, not least in their loyalty to De Boinville, then a second-season conditional. When he was suspended for the Denman Chase and Richard Johnson came in for the winning ride, he feared his golden opportunity might have gone but there was never a danger he would lose the ride.

“Mark and Sara called me up straight away to say I’d be back on him for the Gold Cup,” De Boinville recalls. “I’m sure there were a few people who thought I shouldn’t have been riding him as a conditional just out of my claim, but the Bradstocks and the syndicate showed a lot of faith to keep me on him and I’ll be forever grateful to them. They looked after me tremendously well.”

Mark and Sara Bradstock with their pride and joy ConeygreeCredit: Edward Whitaker

The class of his connections was matched by Coneygree, who was never far from top company in a career that was bedevilled by a series of stress fractures and comprised only 18 runs. He finished with nine wins – including two Grade 1s, four Grade 2s and one Listed – and was placed in four more Graded contests.

The Listed success came at Sandown by 25 lengths in the first race of his second season over fences but he did not make it back to defend his Gold Cup crown and raced only seven more times, never appearing at the festival again after that glorious March day in 2015.

The end came when he was pulled up at Ascot in February last year. “He’d managed with his injuries very bravely and I always knew there’d be a stage when he’d say ‘actually I don’t want to do this now’,” says Sara Bradstock.

There was still time for the public to show its appreciation for such a brave warrior when Coneygree was invited to do a lap of honour around the Ascot winner’s enclosure. “It was lovely,” she says. “Someone sent me a video of everybody running to the paddock to give him a cheer. That was really tear-jerking for all of us, I can tell you. He came off the track looking miserable but after he’d done his lap of honour he was as happy as anything. He forgot he’d been pulled up, he thought he’d won.”

A hero to the end.

'He's much cuddlier than he used to be'

Coneygree still thinks he’s the king and, thanks to his owners, he is treated like royalty in retirement with the Bradstocks.

“The owners made a retirement fund for him when he was so successful and what a wonderful thing it is because we can afford to keep him in the manner he’s always lived,” says Sara Bradstock.

“Chicky [Oaksey], bless her, got all the syndicate members to put a little bit of prize-money into his retirement fund. With so many good horses, that doesn’t happen. It’s so sad to see wonderful horses left out in fields when they’re used to being the hero, they’re used to being pampered. The retirement fund means we can keep him in the lap of luxury, as he should be. He’ll always be here and will always be looked after.”

Coneygree in his racing days taking an early morning stroll with Sara Bradstock through the village of Letcombe BassettCredit: John Grossick (racingpost.com/photos)

Coneygree, who will turn 14 next month, has mellowed since his racing days but still loves being the centre of attention.

“He started doing some RoR [Retraining of Racehorses] showing last year and he won a few classes. He won at Frome county show and he got to have a canter round with everybody clapping, and he thought he’d won the Gold Cup again, he was so pleased with himself. He’s a real show-off,” says Sara.

“Last year he still looked a bit like a racehorse but now he’s put some weight on and looks like a show horse, and it’s frustrating with the whole Covid thing that there have been no shows to go to. This summer we managed to do a little bit of jumping without him being lame, so he might do a bit of hunter trialling.

“He’s much less angry than he was. When he was very fit he would bite you. He’s much cuddlier than he used to be, he’s very happy, and he loves people looking at him. Whenever anyone comes into the yard, he’s always posing, like he’s saying: ‘I am the king’.”

Fans Favourites' is a new feature in the Racing Post Weekender in which we talk to those closest to racing's most popular horses and find out why they pluck on our heartstrings. Out every Wednesday

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