'We just had to pull stumps' - Ascot Chase winner Waiting Patiently retired

Waiting Patiently has been retired after being pulled up when attempting to repeat his emotional success in the Betfair Ascot Chase.

He scored a memorable win in the Grade 1 contest under Brian Hughes in 2018, the day after the funeral of his former trainer Malcolm Jefferson.

The fragile 11-year-old has not won since and was moved from Jefferson's daughter Ruth in Malton to Christian Williams's yard on the Welsh coast, in the hope that the restorative powers of the sea water could produce a revival.

Relive Waiting Patiently's win in the Ascot Chase

But he has been pulled up in both starts since the switch and owner Richard Collins said on Sunday: "He has been retired. We were going to retire him in the summer but he was so well in the field that we thought we'd give him another chance, seeing if going in the sea water would help his old legs. Obviously it hasn't worked.

"When he ran in the Betfair Chase, Christian was saying how well he was working at home and we thought he'd go well but he ran absolutely awful.

"He's been running in Grade 1s for five years and you just have to pull stumps with him."

Waiting Patiently (right) repelled the challenge of Cue Card in the 2018 Ascot ChaseCredit: Alan Crowhurst

Waiting Patiently, who also finished third in the Tingle Creek at Sandown in 2019 and second in the King George the following year, will spend his retirement with Collins in County Durham.

"As an owner, a Grade 1 horse doesn't come along very often," said Collins, a former jockey who set up a seafood business after quitting the saddle. "Ascot was a very special day, there was Cue Card and Frodon in the race and they all finished behind him.

"He ran in the Tingle Creek over two miles and in another 50 yards he'd have won it. In the King George he got done turning into the straight, Bryony [Frost] caught us a bit flat-footed on Frodon, and he was running on at the finish.

"He was very fragile, we had lots of problems with him, he had a couple of chips in his joints and arthritis in his knees. Some horses you can run regularly but we couldn't do that with him."

Talk about a tough start . . .

Waiting Patiently was originally trained by Keith Reveley, who handed in his licence in 2017, and Collins recalled: "We always thought a fair bit of him and I remember when he went to Hexham on his first run in what we thought was a moderate maiden hurdle.

"We didn't want to run him in a bumper because he was quite excitable and he finished second at Hexham – the winner was Nuts Well, that great horse of the Hamiltons' and the third was Cloudy Dream – Keith said 'he's a 140-horse now, Richard!'"

Nuts Well has gone on to rack up almost £250,000 in prize-money, including Aintree's Old Roan Chase in 2020, while Cloudy Dream breached that mark in a career which saw him win seven times and be placed in three Grade 1s.

Waiting Patiently won seven races in total, including Listed chases at Carlisle and Kempton and a Grade 2 event at Haydock, and earned over £290,000 in his 18-race career.

Waiting Patiently career details

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