Cloudy Glen Grand National Wins
Cloudy Glen has never won the Grand National.
They have never finished the race.
A horse who showed great improvement as he went up in distance, which is no surprise given that Cloudy Glen is trained by Venetia Williams, a trainer known for staying chase horses. She’s certainly turned this horse into a high-class runner over longer trips, something that led him to the 2023 Grand National, his first attempt at the race.
Foaled in 2013, during the early part of his career, Cloudy Glen struggled to pick up too many wins, running over shorter trips in both national hunt flat and hurdle races. However, as he moved into his prime, he certainly picked things up, relishing a longer trip.
Full Results
| Year | Result | Prize Money | Handicap | Jockey | Trainer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Fence 1 - Unseated Rider | - | 10-4 | Charlie Deutsch | Venetia Williams |
Cloudy Glen’s Early Years
It is fair to say that Cloudy Glen struggled in the early part of his career. He would go into training with Venetia Williams and made his debut in a national hunt flat race at Uttoxeter in December 2017.
The was his only flat run before going hurdling, he came fifth out of six, but when he moved over to hurdling, things didn’t improve immediately. He ended his first season without a win from six starts.
In his following season, we saw two changes made. The first is he went handicapping, giving him more chance of winning and secondly, he was stepped up in trip. They resulted in three wins out of four starts in his second season, the horse had finally found his feet.
Chasing would come next, and while this didn’t result in the horse winning a lot, he did improve up the handicap. From eight starts that season, he won just once, a beginners chase at Haydock, but did improve his handicap mark by 8lbs during the season. That left him in a position where he was able to move up in grade and contest better quality races, as well as once again moving up in trip, this time, tackling distances around three miles, which brought out even more from him.
Despite not being a huge winner and struggling very early, Cloudy Glen did eventually get going in the right direction and showed promise.
Cloudy Glen’s Big Race Wins
So far in his career, Cloudy Glen has won two big races, and both of them are what would be described as strong staying contests. The first of those was one of the smaller ‘National’ events that take place throughout the year, coming in November 2020, and it was the Southern National at Fontwell.
Not only did Cloudy Glen make an impression by being able to win a race like that, but he also won it in grand style, recording a winning distance of 13 lengths. That race is run over three miles, three and a half furlongs, and was run on heavy ground that day, so if you wanted an indication of staying power, Cloudy Glen showed that in his first big race win.
The second would come 12 months later in November 2021, a much bigger and more competitive race and off a 6lb higher rating, so it was an even more impressive run from the Venetia Williams horse.
This time around, it was the Ladbrokes Trophy at Newbury, a race many will know at the Hennessy Gold Cup, one of the biggest early season staying handicaps on the calendar. The race is a Grade Three handicap chase, ran over three miles and two furlongs and won by some great horses in the past.
The winning distance was just half a length this time, but it was a great statement made to win such a race, and one that would take the horse to run in other big staying handicaps afterwards.