Gary Moore admits Sire de Grugy’s Cheltenham hopes rest on Newbury win

No pressure then

The Betfair Price Rush Chase at Newbury on Saturday is only a Grade Two race but for punters and fans the race is so much more than just a run of the mill Saturday meeting. It is by no means the feature of the weekend's action but there will be more than a passing interest in the race even for casual fan horse racing fans. The reason is due to the presence of Sire De Grugy who has been out of action since April 2014. The Cheltenham Champion Chase winner last year is under pressure to retain his title with tomorrow's run expected to be a deciding factor on whether he faces the two mile trip next month. Gary Moore has full confidence in the horse to record a win, and a comfortable one at that.

'Everything's good. I've got no problems, no worries. I wish there had been a few more runners, but that wasn't to be. I hope he wins. If he doesn't win he shouldn't be going to Cheltenham. I hope there's a fair bit of improvement in him, but he should be good enough to win.'

The small field should suit the horse as he faces Karinga Dancer from Harry Fry, Uxizandre by Alan King and Mr Mole from the stable of Paul Nicholls' as well as Upsilon Bleu from Pauline Robinson. She admits that there isn't much hope of competing with Moore's star mount

"He's a lovely horse to have but we know we can't beat Sire De Grugy. We just want him to compete well. That's what we're hoping for. We've got the horse in good form and that's why we're travelling down the country. A sound run from him would be great, he's an absolute treasure to train so it's fingers crossed.'

The race goes off at 3pm. H/T to Sportinglife