Victorious Forever have made their first venture into National Hunt racing after purchasing Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle contender Carrigmoornaspruce.
This comes after Victorious Racing merged with KHK Racing last year, with the newly formed consortium buying the mare from the Old Fools Partnership. Trained by Declan Queally, Carrigmoornaspruce has some strong form with her figures reading 21132-1122. Third to Champion Bumper winner Bambino Fever, she took a Grade 3 INHF at Punchestown last season.
The six-year-old was a comfortable winner on hurdles debut, before finishing second at Down Royal in Grade 3 company. She was ambitiously pitched in to Grade One company at Christmas, finishing a two-length second to Turners hope Skylight Hustle.
Connections are better known for their successful flat exploits, as the former Victorious Racing saw Isle Of Jura win at Royal Ascot in 2024. KHK Racing had great success with Champion unbeaten two-year-old Vandeek, and also won a Classic with Eldar Eldarov. While further success on the flat awaits the newly formed connections, Sheikh Nasser was keen for this endeavour into jumping.
“Cheltenham is the place to do it!” – Billy Jackson-Stops
Speaking to TDN Europe, via Racing TV, racing manager Billy Jackson-Stops told Nasser: “if you were to go jumping, Cheltenham is the place to do it!
“It’s something that Shaikh Nasser has always wanted to do. He enjoys watching racing and so this time of year watches a lot of jumps racing,” he added.
“He’s an endurance athlete himself. He was the champion ironman, he’s now a champion endurance rider. He relates very closely to National Hunt racing, just because of the endurance factor.
“We were looking around for a while and came across her. We’ve got a little team of people including some data people that kind of help on all of our decision-making.
“The final decision comes down to Shaikh Nasser. Everyone agreed and Shaikh Nasser was obviously very excited about her and that was that.
“Hopefully she goes there with a chance. As you can imagine it wasn’t that easy to find a horse with a big chance that was available. We thought she was the perfect candidate for that reason. She’s got a lot of upside, she’s young, she’s got residual value and most importantly she has a chance.
“She’s been in great form. We’ve got James Bowen, who is in cracking form, booked to ride her. He had his double on Saturday and is a super young rider on the way up.“We’ve got a few years to really enjoy her, which is important.”
Carrigmoornaspruce has a good chance for Declan Queally who is enjoying a successful season as he will also saddle his Grade 1 winner I’ll Sort That at the Cheltenham Festival. The mare will come up against her old rival Bambino Fever, who was a 12-length winner when last seen at Fairyhouse in January.