Sara Bradstock says connections are not getting down about Coneygree‘s 15-length defeat in Saturday’s Betfair Chase.
The 2015 Cheltenham Gold Cup winner was making his first appearance for a year but was well beaten by Colin Tizzard‘s impressive Cue Card at Haydock.
After he visibly tired in the closing stages, questions were asked about the nine-year-old’s durability.
However, speaking on Sunday, assistant trainer Bradstock insisted things are looking good for her stable star following his year out through injury.
Bradstock said: “He’s surprisingly as fresh as a daisy. He recovered a lot quicker than I thought he would.
“He got tired in that [heavy] ground after a long time off but he was beaten before that because he was a little bit ring-rusty. He likes ground that slows the others down but that was probably a little deep for him to get into top gear.”
She added: “What we wanted to see was that he still wanted to do it and has the engine. Both of those questions were answered and he is okay this morning, so we couldn’t be more delighted.”
