Nick Scholfield hopes to take his chance with pride

Pride of Dulcote

Patience and youth does not always sit comfortably but Nick Scholfield has waited for his moment.

Ever since stable jockey Ruby Walsh was ruled out for four months with a broken leg a succession of jockeys – headed by 15-times champion Tony McCoy – have come in for the plum rides at the Paul Nicholls yard.

Scholfield has simply bided his time and now it has come to his turn when he rides Pride of Dulcote, the favourite for the Grade One Hennessy Gold Cup at Leopardstown on Sunday. Still only 21, Scholfield started out in point-to-pointing and as a 16-year-old broke the record for a novice rider with 24 winners.

He joined Nicholls as an amateur and the following year and was champion with 23 winners. Having turned professional Scholfield has continued to progress with 38 winners last season, the most significant of those came on Taranis who is owned by Angela Yeoman and it is that same owner who is giving Scholfield the biggest break of his short career.

Pride Of Dulcote’s chasing career is even shorter. He was a top staying novice hurdler, beaten just a half-length by Weapon's Amnesty in the 2009 Albert Bartlett at the Cheltenham Festival. However, his novice chase season was cut short, after he made a winning debut at Worcester, due to a leg injury.

The eight year old, ridden by Scholfield, beat Punchestowns at Newbury in December on his only start so far this season and, even if the runner-up did little for the form at Cheltenham on Saturday, the third, Tatenen – who was beaten 40 lengths - came out to win a handicap at Ascot two weeks ago by 16 lengths off a handicap mark of 137.

Every jockey looking to make their mark needs the right horse and Scholfield is keen to take the chance on offer. “I’m very grateful to Paul and Mrs Yeoman for keeping me on him and I’m very much looking forward to Sunday,” he said.

“The form hasn’t worked out unfortunately, with Punchestowns, but my lad jumped very well, stayed very and he could do no more than that really. It was only his second start over fences so I was very happy with his jumping. He’ll be better in a race with a stronger gallop and more of a test of stamina,” Schofield said, adding over the horse’s position at the head of the market “he’s on the up, and you know what you’ve got with the others. Paul thinks a lot of him and he’s unbeaten over fences.”

If Scholfield and Pride of Dulcote represent the future, then The Listener will attempting to prove that he should not be consigned to the past just yet. The 12-year-old, trained by Nick Mitchell, has spent almost as much time racing in Ireland as he has in Britain to find his favoured soft-ground conditions.

The Listener won this race in 2008 but missed over a year with a leg problem after winning the Grade One JNwine.com Champion Chase at Down Royal in November 2009. He made a satisfying return when fifth to Pandorama in the Lexus Chase, over this course and distance in December, and Mitchell is hopeful about his fourth run in the race. "I think this is his 13th time over in Ireland, I was very happy three years ago when he won this race, but very annoyed when Beef Or Salmon mugged him on the line the year before,” Mitchell said. “But he loves Leopardstown and we're looking forward to going back over there.”

The Listener took his customary place in front in the Lexus and was still in contention at the last but then faded on the run-in to be beaten 14 lengths. “Everybody was delighted with him,” Mitchell said. “You’ve got to remember he was coming back from that leg injury. He showed his old exuberance and, if anything, he was a little too exuberant. And we were so pleased, after such a long lay-off to get as far as we did. He got to the last and just emptied a bit – which he was entitled to do. The main thing is he came back, his leg was clean, he hasn't missed a beat since and it's fingers crossed.

“He’s now 12 and you wonder if he was just having a blow afterwards or showing signs of age. But, for the majority of the race last time, he really looked to be really enjoying himself.”

Age need be no barrier to success. Scholfield certainly hopes so.

Paul Wheeler

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