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While clocking in at point-to-points last weekend, I spotted two men whose names will forever be linked with Cheltenham.
This article first appeared in the Racing Post on Friday 24th February.
Simon Claisse (pictured above left with Elliott and Annabel England), who in this drought-defining period is probably glad to be the ex-clerk of the course and manager there, was leading up at Kingston Blount in Oxfordshire on Saturday 25th February, where his partner, Annabel England, ran Marton Abbey. Her son Elliott rode the seven-year-old to victory in a maiden race, and Claisse’s smile as he led in the winner could not have been broader had he just been knighted for services to racing.
The grateful trainer thanked her partner for his role in exercising Marton Abbey. “It’s not easy getting a horse fit when it’s the only one you train,” she said.
Marton Abbey (right, Elliott England) on his way to victory at Kingston Blount
Claisse would have been a perfect fit for the position of clerk at Garthorpe in Leicestershire, where Brian Crawford tended the swathe for many years until retiring last season. Yet the man he groomed for takeover was none other than Jim Culloty, immortal for his partnership with triple Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Best Mate, and the man in charge at the meeting on Sunday 26th February.
Culloty said: “When Brian planned to retire, I was approached and was happy to help. I’m living just up the road from here, but have a farm in Ireland which I manage largely on the phone.”
Jim Culloty, clerk of the course at Garthorpe
Clermont runs at Festival
Sitting in a betting market surrounded by hunters trained in Ireland, Famous Clermont cuts a lonely figure as Britain’s best hope for success in the St James’s Place Festival Hunters’ Chase.
It was confirmed last week that the eight-year-old will run, after plans to head to Aintree were put on hold. Trainer Chris Barber said: “The owners are keen to go to Cheltenham, and if you have a horse of his ability why wouldn’t you? Will [Biddick] says he is a completely different horse this year, but it’s in the back of my mind that he blew out at Cheltenham’s evening meeting in April.
“Cheltenham is a specialist track and horses need to get into a rhythm. We’re going there to win, but if he doesn’t get into that rhythm, we won’t be hard on him.”
