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Sir Alex Ferguson at centre of huge row over £630,000 racehorse branded a ‘heap of s**t’
Will he ever justify the hype?
SIR Alex Ferguson has found himself at the centre of a massive racing row - after his big £630,000 horse was branded a 'heap of s**t'.
The former Manchester United manager was part of an ownership group that splashed the then-world-record sum on Caldwell Potter at a sale last year.
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A Grade 1 winner as a novice hurdler when trained by Gordon Elliott in Ireland, he hasn't quite lived up to the hype since moving to trainer Paul Nicholls and going over fences.
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And his critics were out in force after he finished a four-length second when sent off 4-6 fav for a Grade 2 Novice Chase at Windsor on Friday.
Some punters branded the seven-year-old gelding - who Sir Alex said 'took my breath away' at the time - a 'waste of money'.
But trainer Nicholls hit out afterwards - at the same time he was slated by fellow handler Hughie Morrison.
Morrison was speaking after his gambled-on Secret Squirrel got the better of Nicholls' Kabral Du Mathan in a handicap hurdle at Windsor, the pair finishing 1-2 respectively.
Referencing Nicholls' recent holiday in the Caribbean - where he tipped up a 33-1 Grand National chance - Morrison said: "Most jumps trainers seem to head off to Barbados [in January].
"Us Flat trainers don't have time for that…"
Nicholls then spoke about Caldwell Potter and the slating the horse has received for - so far - failing to live up to the price tag.
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The legendary trainer said: "Harry [Cobden] got off and said he's a very nice horse but not a champion and I'd echo that.
"There's no excuses, he came there to win two-out and he didn't.
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"You're not expecting to win a Champion Chase with him at the moment.
"Immediately on Twitter people say 'What a heap of s***', but people have no idea. He's a very nice horse.
"He's not easy to train, we had issues in the spring which is why I couldn't run him and I still have issues with him all the time with his feet, so that's not easy.
"You wouldn't want to run him on quick ground."
Caldwell Potter won his first race for Nicholls when scooting up in a Class 3 chase at Carlisle on December 1 last year.
But he was hammered 13 lengths by Nicky Henderson's Jango Baie when sent off 11-10 fav at Cheltenham 12 days later.
The money was down for him again at Windsor but he failed to produce when it mattered most.
Sir Alex said he 'nearly fainted' when he learned how much he and his mates were going to have to part with to buy Caldwell Potter.
The horse was being sold after previous owners, Andy and Gemma Brown from Stoke, decided they wanted to leave racing.
Fergie said at the end of last year: "This year we have some really good horses.
"Caldwell Potter is the one who really took my breath away.
"He was up for sale in Ireland and John said 'we may have to go to 600,000 euros' and at that point I fainted.
"Then he says 'it's gone to 700,000' and he asked if I wanted to stay in. I said, 'John, you've taken us this bloody far, carry on!"
";Gordon Elliott was very kind and he wrote me a nice letter after, he was desperate to keep the horse.
"He tried hard, going round all the sources he had, but fortunately we got it.
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"And he won his first race last week. I'm hopeful."
Asked if he is the one who really has Sir Alex dreaming of big things, he replied, without missing a beat: "At that price, he better be!"
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