Looking Back 83) Crus

                   Grands Crus

Grands Crus is a 2005 grey gelding by Dom Alco and his dam was called Fee Magic.  Bought from France for owners Roger Stanley and Yvonne Reynolds as a three year old he made his career debut in a bumper at Aintree in October 2009.  He had two bumper runs in which he never really got competitive and it was only when sent hurdling that we started to see the true Grand Crus.

He finished second on his hurdling debut at Taunton at 66/1, seven lengths behind winner Wishful Thinking.  He won his next start, a novice hurdle at Plumpton after this before finishing runner up on his final start of the 2009/10 season back at Taunton behind Sanctuaire.

After a summer holiday he returned to action with a win at Cheltenham’s November meeting, winning the 2m5f handicap hurdle off a mark of 126 with Tom Scudamore on board.  Just six days later he followed up in the valuable Fixed Brush hurdle at Haydock in easy fashion, beating Barafundle by ten lengths.  Under a penalty for his Cheltenham win he travelled very powerfully throughout and drew clear from two out to win impressively.

On his next outing in January 2010 he won the Cleeve hurdle at Cheltenham in similarly impressive fashion beating Knockara Beau by 10 lengths.  Next stop was the World hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival in March.  Big Bucks was the odds on favourite and defending champion but Grands Crus was as short at 7/2 in the betting.  He ran a mighty race to finish second to Big Bucks and was only beaten 1¾ lengths. The ground was probably a little bit quicker than ideal this day but it was still a terrific effort to get so close to the champion. He went on to finish second again to Big Bucks in the Liverpool hurdle at Aintree after this before he went on an overseas trip to France to run in the French Champion hurdle at Auteuil in June.  He was a bit below form on this occasion and finished sixth behind winner Thousand Stars.

A holiday followed and he returned the following autumn to embark on a novice chase campaign.  He was an easy winner of a novice chase at Cheltenham’s November meeting on debut and followed up at Newbury later that month.  He made it the perfect three from three over fences when landing the Feltham Novices chase at Kempton over Christmas beating Silviniaco Conti by 2¼ lengths.  He tanked through the race again, his usual style, combined with an excellent round of jumping he was impressive. 

After a little break he was sent off the 6/5 favourite for the SunAlliance novices chase at the 2012 Cheltenham Festival.  He unfortunately disappointed this day, he finished fourth behind future Gold Cup winner Bobsworth but it was not his true running.  Very sadly he was never quite the same horse again and his form tailed off in only five more runs in his career. 

He had worn a tongue strap in his races ever since the third start of his life.  He had undergone wind surgery on a couple of occasions but these only last a certain amount of time and unfortunately his wind became so bad over time that he could not be the horse he once was.  It was an easy but extremely sad decision to retire him.  His final ever run was at Kempton in 2013 so he was only an eight year old but the time was right. 

He has gone on to have a wonderful career after leaving Pond House and we have received some wonderful photos of him showing and show jumping so it is fantastic that although his racing career was cut short he has gone on to be a star in another discipline.

Grands Crus won seven races from 20 career starts and he was placed six times as well.  Rated 169 at best over hurdles he won over £249,000 in prize money. 

Watch him win the Feltham Novices Chase at Kempton here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhqlZj2COrc

Watch him finish second in the World Hurdle here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZVL2mCV2Lk

Watch him in action in retirement here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdBk1qO3pjc