Dorking Cock has Welsh National plan

Hunter chaser Dorking Cock successfully reverted to handicap hurdle company at Navan today, scoring a 25/1 win on seasonal reappearance in the Bar One-sponsored 2m6f race, ahead of a potential Welsh National bid.

Pulled up in Cheltenham's Open Hunters Chase in March and a 12th-placed finisher in April's Aintree Foxhunters, Dorking Cork today reappeared on his first run over hurdles since January 2021, scoring under jockey

Jockey Slevin by a half-length from Ms Agartha Yeats

Winning trainer Stuart Crawford reported “I've always thought a bit of him. We bought him as a hunter chaser but nothing ever worked out. The day I bought him in Doncaster I thought he was a horse for either a Welsh National or a Foxhunters.

“Due to covid he was late to get going and after running so well so well at Down Royal on Boxing Day - when narrowly touched off by Vaucelet, I set my stall out to go to Cheltenham but he wasn't the same horse last spring.

“He's back to his normal self again and for the age of him (nine-year-old) he's not overly raced. The hunter chase scene at the moment is very hot and I thought he was well treated for a handicap.”

He added “I have him in the Welsh National and I'd say we'll probably try and aim for that. He has jumped well around the (Aintree) national fences but he'd need a wet spring and to climb up in the weights to get into a National.

"He's a far better jumper of a fence than a hurdle but it's good to get on the winning groove today.”

Jockey Slevin was previously employed at the Larne trainer's yard and having recently endured 65 rides without success, the trainer quipped “my jockey needed it too as it's a day or two since he had a winner! It'll give him a bit of heart and confidence too. We all need a winner!”

The 'Dorking' was a breed of cockerel and is the symbol of Dorking town in Surrey, with a sculpture of such a chicken on a roundabout in the town.

Quotes from Gary Carson