Moore happy as rain arrives on cue for Theatre

8:37am Saturday 28th June 2008

BOGSIDE THEATRE'S bid to give trainer George Moore a third John Smith's Northumberland Plate received a major boost when the heavens opened earlier this week.

"She's ready and everything has worked out nicely now the rain has come," said Moore, who boasts a good record in the most valuable two-mile handicap run in the northern hemisphere.

The genial Middleham trainer first took the money in 1993 with Highflying, followed up via Toldo in 2006, prior to Macorville's unlucky short-head defeat in last year's race.

It's such a top prize that preparing a horse specifically to land the cash is clearly one of Moore's main annual objectives.

Bogside Theatre (3.20) was sent off as a 100-1 rag on her debut at today's course in June 2007, outsider's odds of which she made a complete mockery when winning by six lengths.

"She'd been a bit weak and I'd never put a gun to her head at home, but I told owner Brian Lappin to have a tenner each-way as I thought she would run OK," explained Moore.

Since then the daughter of Fruits Of Love, who was also trained at Middleham, has been carefully campaigned to sneak in at featherweight for the Plate.

Whether the master-plan comes off is the $64,000 question, however, with a cracking low draw, plus easy ground to suit, an each-way bet is not the worst idea in the world.

Having a couple of savers never did anyone much harm, so with that in mind Carte Diamond and Tilt get the nod.

Both are trained by Brian Ellison, a Geordie who would be realising a lifetime's ambition if leading one of his own into the winners' enclosure for the £200,000 showpiece.

Ellison's wife, Claire, is currently writing a book about Carte Diamond, purchased for a hefty £95,000 shortly before winning the 2004 November Handicap.

To say the chestnut has since endured many ups-and-downs would be the understatement of the century, hence the need to get the dramatic story in print.

On one side of the coin Carte Diamond subsequently won twice over hurdles and finished second in the 2005 Ebor at York, nevertheless there has been a far darker side to relate.

The spectre of death has hung no less than three times over his head, the grim reaper denied only by the skill of Australian veterinary surgeons.

Taken Down Under for a crack at the Melbourne Cup, he got loose and galloped into a metal spike which went clean through his hind thigh.

Carte Diamond survived by the skin of his teeth with the help of Ellison's daughter, Lorraine, but later contracted the often fatal "winter laminitis".

Once recovered from that disease he then took it into his head to charge a fence in search of some adjoining mares, this time a spike penetrating his chest.

Surgery was the only option and Carte Diamond came through, returned to the UK and has run well on each of his prep races.

"He and Tilt both have a good chance, I couldn't be happier with them" said Ellison, who is based at Spring Cottage Stables in Malton.

No one can deny Tilt is a major player, having finished third behind Juniper Girl and Macorville last year, overcoming a dreadful draw and hock-deep ground.

The gutsy gelding proved he's as good as ever by going within an ace of plundering the Chester Cup in May, a superb trial which once again puts him bang in the firing line.

The other big-bucks contest over the weekend is tomorrow's Irish Derby at the Curragh, where New Approach (3.50) attempts to repeat his Epsom heroics.

Backers of the column are already nicely in profit thanks to the colt's 5-1 triumph, a win made all the more remarkable by his headstrong nature. New Approach pulled like the proverbial train at Epsom, wasting vital early energy, yet still had the stamina reserves to gun his rivals down in the closing stages.

Whatever lit up Jim Bolger's stable-star let's hope it doesn't happen again, because if he has settled down I'm convinced it's game over for the others before the stalls even open.

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