Farceur Du Large failed to retain his Royal Artillery Gold Cup at Sandown Park Racecourse on Thursday 13th February, finishing a well-beaten fifth, with the race perhaps coming too soon after his Grand Military race three weeks earlier.
After his excellent runner-up effort in the Grand Military last month, FDL came into the race as a 15/8 shot to retain his Royal Artillery Gold Cup trophy, but sadly it wasn’t to be this time. Having raced prominently through the early stages of the race, he failed to keep up with the leaders after the first circuit and eventually began to struggle to keep with the pace. The front-runners quickly pulled clear, so jockey Major Will Kellard decided to look after him and bring him home in his own time.
After the race, jockey Major Will Kellard gave us his verdict on the performance:
“He just didn’t quite have the same spark as he had last year. He hit a couple of the fences down the back straight on the first circuit, which was unlike him, but he soon got into his usual jumping rhythm. I wanted to be up with the three leaders, but he just couldn’t go with them. The main thing is he’s back safe and sound.”
Trainer Jamie Snowden reported the following morning:
“I’m delighted to say he has trotted out sound and well this morning – he’s got a bit of a cut on his near fore, but that’s purely superficial. He ate up all his dinner and didn’t actually lose any weight at all during the race, which suggests he didn’t give his all. He cantered around and jumped nicely, but he just didn’t seem to put his heart into it yesterday.”
Sadly, it just wasn’t to be for ‘Frank the Tank’ on Thursday. He will now have an easy time of things for a week, before a decision is made on his future.
You can view Farceur Du Large’s profile HERE.
