'It brought tears to my eyes' - the riding school write-off transformed to all-weather star vying for £100,000 prize

Six months ago The Craftymaster was being retrained at a riding school, but he is now vying for the £100,000 All-Weather Horse of the Year prize after an extraordinary winning spree.

The four-year-old showed little in four runs for Roger Teal last summer, but his career resumed off a lowly mark of 48 in October after Tony Carroll persuaded his owners to persevere. 

He notched his seventh win in four months off a career-high mark of 72 at Newcastle under William Carson on Saturday evening, a victory which edged him closer to becoming crowned Horse of the Year and emotionally hit his trainer.

"It's an amazing achievement," he said. "It brought tears to my eyes and that doesn’t happen very often, but what horses can do for you and where they can take you is quite incredible. Horses just don’t do this – to win seven races in four months is remarkable. Everybody can’t believe it and we're having to pinch ourselves.  

"It’s been a wonderful journey and we’ve all enjoyed it. A lot of people watch him and think ‘how does that happen?’ but it can. It’s been a journey and he's a horse with a story."

A chance phone call from co-owner Steve Barton resulted in The Craftymaster moving to Carroll's Worcestershire yard. The plan was to go juvenile hurdling but bad weather meant they tried the all-weather, which led to remarkable success when upped in trip.

The Craftymaster (orange silks) knuckled down to score cosily at Newcastle on SaturdayCredit: John Grossick (racingpost.com/photos)

Carroll explained: "I know Steve and had always kept tabs on the horse and he rang wanting some badges to go to Kempton. He told me they’d finished with him and I told them they needed to have more patience. I asked if it would be okay if I could have a go with him. 

"When he arrived here I could see he was an absolutely lovely horse. He's so kind. He isn't very quick but he gallops and gallops. He was always a good type of horse, but he needed time by the look of it.

"We started schooling him over hurdles and we were very pleased with the way he was jumping. We entered him in a four-runner race at Leicester and he was on the horsebox, but it was called off and it continued to rain so we decided to run him on the Flat."

The Craftymaster's latest win means he is just three points shy of Artisan Dancer in the running to become the Horse of the Year, for which points are awarded for finishing in the top five at Arc-owned racecourses.

He has entries on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, including the £65,000 All-Weather Vase Marathon (3.15) at Lingfield, with Carroll weighing up plans. 

Carroll said: "He came home last night, ate up and then went to sleep. He’s one of those extraordinary horses and he’s an absolute joy. I’m going to monitor him this week. He’s second in the competition at the moment and it’s a little bit like chess with the points.

"He really enjoyed his jumping and we were very keen to run him originally so that side of it is always in the back of our mind as he’s clearly a horse with lots of stamina, but who knows where he could end up on the Flat?"

Read more . . .

'He's been a fairytale' - The Craftymaster going great guns for connections and his own sire 

'He’s progressing really nicely' - The Craftymaster completes fabulous five-timer for Tony Carroll  

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