Oliver Sherwood will be keeping his eyes on the weather forecast over the coming days with the hope of no more rain in order for his Champion Bumper hope Queens Gamble to run at Market Rasen.
The former Grand National winning Trainer is keen for his starlet filly to run again before tackling the Irish challengers at the Cheltenham Festival.
“I’d just like to get another run for everybody to see her really,” he said.
“We are watching the forecast, we’ve got half a chance. I’m not keen (to run Queens Gamble) if it came up heavy, to run her in what I call ‘very testing ground’.
“It’s soft, good to soft in places there at the moment, with a dry-ish week, we’ve got half a chance - I’d run her on good to soft ground.”
Unbeaten in her two starts, the filly by Getaway romped home in two bumpers at Cheltenham in 2022 and her effortless manner of victory has brought her to the forefront of Festival reckoning.
Sherwood revealed that Alan Swinbank listed Mares’ bumper at Market Rasen next Friday would be the last stop before heading to the Festival following her non-runner certification at Huntingdon in December.
“Everything has gone according to plan from when we decided not to go to Huntingdon, I gave her down time after that.
“I’m happy with her, she worked super this week.”
A listed winner last time, Sherwood explained that it’s more about learning and development, rather than adding more black type.
He said, “It’s part of her growing up, going to different tracks, Market Rasen and Cheltenham are two different tracks completely.
“She’s going to get a little penalty for already winning a listed race, but it’s all part of her education, there is a long way to go.”
The intended race has been won by some talented fillies before including Panic Attack and Eileendover, with the former being sold from Willie Mullins to David Pipe after winning.
Sherwood has the right not to be fearful of the opposition and expects to encounter some smart types in the race.
He said: “Who knows what's going to be in the race, Willie Mullins has sent horses there before so we’ll have to wait and see what the entries are.
“I’d love her to win, we want to win every race if we can, but just another performance like she’s shown in her previous two races then hopefully onwards and upwards to Cheltenham.”
Generational talents like Queens Gamble don’t come around too often, and Sherwood, now in the twilight of his training career, reflected on what potential Cheltenham Festival success would mean to him.
He said: “Oh don’t even remind me please (How long it has been since his last Festival winner).
“I've been at it a long time and been lucky enough to have had six Cheltenham Festival winners and a Grand National winner. I haven’t got the numbers of the big boys but I would love to have another Festival winner before we draw stumps.”
In recent years Irish trained horses have dominated the Champion Bumper roll of honour, with the last British winner coming in the form of Ballyandy for the Twiston-Davies’ in 2016.
A big fancy for the race in March, Sherwood gave an idea of what it is like for him watching his top horses race.
“I’m not very good at watching when you have a good horse,” He said.
“No, I’m okay.. Superstitious is the wrong word. Nervous I think the right thing to say is.”
The 67-year-old last scored at the Cheltenham Festival in 1995 with the Jamie Obsourne ridden Bear Claw but the most recent Rhonehurst flag bearer was Many Clouds, who empathically won the 2015 Grand National.
Perhaps a stark contrast to Queen Gamble, Sherwood disclosed the two talents trained in Lambourn have both been trained the same.
“Not a lot to be honest with you,” he said.
“I trained the likes of Many Clouds the same way I have trained Queens Gamble or Large Action - who was second in a Champion Hurdle.
“The one real advantage with Queens Gamble is she doesn’t take a lot of work, she only needs a few bits of work and she's ready.
“She’s not a big, robust filly so you don't have to pump the work into her, which from my point of view makes life easier. So she’d be fresh, well and undercooked if anything.”
