Former Gold Cup winner Coneygree to miss Wednesday’s Kerry National at Listowel due to the testing ground

CONEYGREE will not run in Wednesday’s Guinness Kerry National due to the testing conditions.

Connections were keen to see him make his seasonal reappearance at Listowel this week, but have been put off by the likely heavy ground.

PA

Sara Bradstock, wife of trainer Mark, told Press Association Sport: “He’s not going to Listowel. I’m very disappointed, but it is what it is.

“The ground is going to be very soft. We aimed towards the Kerry National thinking we’d get soft ground and now they’ve had two weeks of solid rain. We want it soft, but not that soft.

Coneygree could instead return to Ireland for the JNwine.com Champion Chase at Down Royal on November 4, or run in the Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby on the same day.

Bradstock added: “There’s the JNwine at Down Royal and the Charlie Hall at Wetherby. There are also open handicaps at places like Chepstow, but we’d rather go for something valuable if we can.

"We'd definitely like to get a run in sooner rather than later to hopefully put him spot-on for something like the Hennessy (Ladbrokes Gold Cup, Newbury).

"He feels amazing at the moment. I'm worryingly confident that the same engine is still there."