Sandown

THE name of the game, where Mark and Sara Bradstock are concerned, has always been patience. On a final jumps afternoon, which honoured Sara’s late father Lord Oaksey, it was entirely fitting that Step Back, a good deal fresher than some of his opponents, led some way from home and ran away with the Grade 3 bet365 Gold Cup.

In the end the 7/1 chance had 13 lengths to spare over Rock The Kasbah, who kept him company for much of the way but was left behind from three out. Present Man and Relentless Dreamer came next but the field was well astrung out on ground no worse than good to soft, leaving the overall impression that several had had enough for the season.

That may be true of 6/1 favourite Blaklion, who was going right-handed for the first time in four years and was never sighted before being pulled up.

Step Back, still a novice at eight, arrived at Sandown on the back of a very easy win at Fakenham. Even an 11lb increase for that bloodless success meant he still raced off a low weight of 10st.

Teaming up with old ally Jamie Moore, who described the race as “a piece of cake”, he looked like a horse running loose up the long Sandown straight.

Like two or three of the Bradstocks’ talented performers, Gold Cup winner Coneygree and Hennessy hero Carruthers among them, he has had his share of physical problems, leading to limited racecourse experience.

“He’s had terrible trouble with his muscle enzymes,” Sara Bradstock said. “He’s taxed us and the vets and farriers and everybody but he’s a star. I knew he was in really good nick. He just jumps and gallops and stays for ever.”

John Oaksey, one of the most respected and popular men ever to have graced the turf, won this race – when Whitbread became racing’s first commercial sponsors – as amateur John Lawrence on Taxidermist 60 years ago. As a journalist and broadcaster he often referred to it as his favourite race of the year.

Sara Bradstock will now be hoping that the handicapper does not overreact because, at nine, Step Back will surely be a realistic Grand National prospect next year. She would also like one more crack at the Cheltenham Gold Cup with Coneygree, pulled up on both outings this season but in good health again now. “His engine is probably a bit too big for his chassis,” she remarked.

More forcefully she made the point that trainers can only do so much without support. The Bradstocks have had only five winners all season.

“We’ve got no bloody horses, that’s the trouble. We prove again and again that we can do it if you give us the horses.”

Maybe the message will reach a few people with deep pockets, although Step Back cost only £47,000 at auction two years ago.

But whatever happens in future, last Saturday will have provided a glowing memory for everyone at the tiny Letcombe Bassett yard where this husband and wife team, quietly and uncomplainingly, go about their business.