'We got hundreds of really vile emails saying we were cruel for even running in the Gold Cup'

Sara Bradstock has opened up about the "really horrid and vile" emails received by the yard before Coneygree's fairytale victory in the 2015 Cheltenham Gold Cup that claimed Sara and her late husband Mark were cruel for just running the horse.

Bradstock was talking to the Racing Post for an emotional interview in Sunday's newspaper in which she discusses coping with the loss of her husband Mark, his dying wish that Sara and their daughter Lily would keep the yard going and the strength he took from knowing they had a new star in Mr Vango, the progressive stayer being aimed at next weekend's Classic Chase at Warwick.

Bradstock also recalled happier days with Mark, none more so than March 13, 2015, when Coneygree became the first novice chaser since Captain Christy in 1974 to win jump racing's Blue Riband – although it's the build-up to the race that sticks more in her memory than the day itself.

"It was so stressful I almost don't remember the day," she said. "He was very fragile and when you've worked that hard to get a horse in that condition, you've reached the pinnacle and it's just too much.

"He wouldn't have stayed sound in a big yard. I rode him every single day and I think that's why we managed to bone scan him at stress fracture level every time. He had stress fractures in both hocks and a front leg but we found them early enough to stop when we needed to.

Mark Bradstock drops an apple in the Gold Cup as his wife Sara looks on with ConeygreeCredit: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos)

"He had an unbelievably mobile back but what comes with that is fragility. Jumping him in the school once a week and making him do some sort of athletic jumping actually kept his back mobile. It was physio for him.

"Nicky Henderson still takes the piss out of me for how often Nico used to come here and school Coneygree but the fact is he won a Gold Cup because of it. Every fence was easy to him. The others had to jump whereas he just did it."

Right up to Gold Cup day the Bradstocks faced hostility for even contemplating running in the main event rather than the RSA Chase, but they knew Coneygree's ailments would shorten his career and the opportunity to go for the big one might not come again. They also believed in him.

"That was where Mark and I being a very strong unit was important. We knew the horse, knew that he could win it and that all the outside noise was crap. We got really horrid emails saying we were cruel. There were hundreds but not one of those people wrote to us to say well done afterwards. They were really vile.

"He was never going to be a sound horse long-term so I don't see how anybody could say it wasn't a good idea to give it a go. But Mark was pretty stubborn like that and the more they wrote the more there was no way he was giving in."

Read more from Sara Bradstock in The Big Read, available in Sunday's newspaper or online for Members' Club Ultimate subscribers from 6pm on Saturday. Click here to sign up.

Read these next:

Sandown: 'Mr Vango was the last horse Mark won with so it's really lovely to see him win again' - poignant success for Sara Bradstock 

'We've won a Gold Cup and we still can't get owners' - Sara Bradstock opens up about yard struggles 

Subscribe to Racing Post Members' Club Ultimate Monthly now and get access to award-winning racing journalism with 50% off your first three months. Patrick Mullins led the way when winning the Racing Writer of the Year award at the Horse Race Writers and Photography Derby Awards in London in December and you can read more exclusive content from the best journalists in racing by signing up to Members' Club today.

Available to new subscribers purchasing Members' Club Ultimate Monthly using code MEMBERS24. First three payments will be charged at £24.98, subscription renews at full monthly price thereafter. To cancel please contact us at least seven days before subscription is due to renew.