CAPE TRIBULATION is set to make his annual Christmas journey to Wetherby from Malcolm Jefferson’s Ryedale yard.

The celebrated performer, whose career earnings stand at more than £240,000, will make his third successive appearance in the prestigious William Hill Rowland Meyrick Chase on Boxing Day after winning this Grade 3 handicap by 11 lengths in 2012 and finishing a hugely creditable third last year under joint-top weight.

Little more than a week away from his eleventh birthday, Cape Tribulation will be aiming to turn back the clock on Friday in a £40,000 race which Jefferson also won in 2011 with According To Pete at 33-1.

The Ryedale handler ran Cape Tribulation over fences at Cheltenham last month and, although the gelding finished only seventh, he was more than satisfied with his performance and, even more encouragingly, the subsequent benefits of that race.

“I thought he ran all right and just got tired. But he has come great since the race and has been working well,” reports Jefferson. “Some of mine have not been running well, but he is perking up and I am quite happy with him.”

He is also happy that, finally, Cape Tribulation has been shown some mercy by the handicapper. “He was up there in the ratings, but he’s on a mark of 142 now and the handicapper has given him a chance,” added the Newstead trainer.

Cape Tribulation has been one of Jefferson’s principal standard-bearers in recent years. Not only did he win the Rowland Meyrick two seasons ago, he also won the Grade 2 Argento Chase at Cheltenham on his next outing before finishing fifth to Bobs Worth in the Cheltenham Gold Cup.

As a hurdler, he pulled off the notable feat, in the spring of 2012, of completing a handicap double at the Cheltenham and Aintree Festival meetings.

Another high profile success for Cape Tribulation this week would be warmly received by the annual bumper Boxing Day crowd, who are getting used to seeing the Ryedale horse at Wetherby’s Christmas meeting.


+ RICHARD FAHEY'S record total of Flat winners on the Yorkshire racecourses in 2014 has earned the Musley Bank trainer notable recognition.

At last week’s Go Racing In Yorkshire Awards Lunch, held at York Racecourse, Fahey picked up the Sky Bet Flat Trainer of the Year trophy for his incredible 79 successes on the county’s tracks this year, a score which eclipsed the previous best training total – achieved by Fahey – of 70 winners in 2009.

“We’ll have to try for 80 Yorkshire winners next year,” quipped Fahey after being presented with his prize by Dale Tempest of Sky Bet.

Graham Lee just inched out Paul Mulrennan in the race for the Yorkshire Flat Jockey of the Year. The pair rode an identical number of winners of 49 in Yorkshire, but Lee achieved more second-placings and, in the process, added to the three Yorkshire titles he had achieved as a jump jockey.

Jason Maguire secured the jump jockey award this year, with Donald McCain picking up the trainers’ prize, while the prestigious Yorkshire Horse of the Year title fell to The Grey Gatsby, winner of the Dante Stakes at York, the French Derby at Chantilly and the Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown, where he defeated the mighty Australia, who had lowered his colours in the Juddmonte International Stakes at York in August.

Hambleton trainer Kevin Ryan said: “It’s great for the horse to be acknowledged with an award. He got better and better as the year went on and he’s staying in training for another year. His first target of 2015 is likely to be the Sheema Classic in Dubai on World Cup night in late-March.”

The Lifetime Achivement Award at the GRIY lunch went to Graham Orange, who is set to stand down from his long standing front of house role at Go Racing In Yorkshire, at the Lincoln meeting at Doncaster in March.

Orange, organiser of the event, was completely taken by surprise at being on the receiving end of the presentation, but it spoke volumes for his popularity that he was given a standing ovation by the 120 guests.

“I used to drive past York racecourse before I joined Go Racing In Yorkshire and thought it looked a fantastic place,” he said. “Who would have thought I would spend over 25 years working there?”


+ RICHARD FAHEY and Tony Coyle have both produced big priced winners on the final run-up to Christmas.

Fahey sent out 66-1 shot Luis Vaz De Torres to score under David Nolan at Wolverhampton last Friday, while Coyle was triumphant earlier in the week at Southwell with Magic Empress, a 33-1 winner in the hands of Barry McHugh.

Luis Vaz De Torres, who prevailed by three-parts of a length, is owned by Lets Go Racing 1, a syndicate organised by Ryedale enthusiast John Wicks, who has been involved in several horses down the years.

The two-year-old, who was making his debut, triggered a double for Malton jockey David Nolan, also successful on Archipeligo for trainer Iain Jardine. Nolan duly boosted his total of winners to 36 in a record season.

Ryedale colleague Paddy Mathers, likewise enjoying a year to remember, also rode a 20-1 winner on the same card in the Derek Shaw-trained Shaft Of Light.

Mathers, who had won on Extreme Supreme at Southwell the previous day, has ridden 14 winners this year, double his tally in 2013. Furthermore, he has accumulated a best ever prize money haul of almost £390,000, largely thanks to his triumph on the Fahey-trained Bond’s Girl in a richly-endowed sales race at Doncaster’s St Leger meeting in September.


+ NORTON trainer John Quinn has no ambitious plans yet for Chieftain’s Choice, one of the Gazette & Herald’s ‘Ten to Follow’ this season – after his all-the-way success at Catterick last week with Tony McCoy in the saddle.

A previous winner at Hexham, Chieftain’s Choice ran his rivals ragged in the novices’ hurdle to justify favouritism under McCoy, who, owing to traffic problems, had to endure a six-hour journey to the course, but was rewarded with three winners from his three mounts.

“I told AP to let him do his own thing if there was no pace in the race,” said Quinn. “He’s an exuberant horse, who has plenty of speed and who stays well. He learned plenty making all his own running. We like him – he’s a decent horse - but we’ll try and find him another race before we think about stepping him up in class.”

Chieftain’s Choice has a bright future and 2015 could well bring him a major prize.