Newbury Friday

NEWBURY staged an excellent card on Friday and Paisley Park was the star of the show on the day. While his victory over Thistlecrack in the Grade 2 Ladbrokes Long Distance Hurdle was workmanlike rather than impressive, the 8/15 favourite never looked like being beaten once Aidan Coleman asked him to take control, and he was blowing quite hard after the race, to confirm trainer Emma Lavelle’s opinion that he would need the run.

He heads to Ascot for the Grade 1 Long Walk Hurdle next, where he will meet the runner-up again, and Lavelle was keen to divert praise to husband Barry Fenton, who “does everything” from riding him out every day to sorting the entries.

“It’s a privilege to train a horse like this,” said Lavelle, referring to the pressure of handling a public favourite “but also a responsibility, and I really didn’t want him to be beaten, not just for us, but for everybody.”

Runner-up in the King George last winter, Thistlecrack’s owners John and Heather Snook want to keep him over hurdles this season. Colin Tizzard explained than he’d been kept in and ridden three times a week during the summer “to stop him getting too big and fat”, but still expects him to make marked improvement from this comeback, and is relishing the chance to take the winner on again next month.

The Worlds End made most of the running and weakened only after the last to be beaten seven lengths into third, but Unowhatimeanharry disappointed after holding every chance at the third last.

Couple of scares

Champ was accompanied not only by Henderson but also by owner J.P. McManus and AP McCoy, after whom he got his name, prior to the Grade 2 Berkshire Novices’ Chase, and despite having to overcome a couple of scares, he ran out an impressive winner of a strong novice chase, beating Black Op (Tom George/Johnny Burke) by a length and three-quarters despite shaping as if wanting to jump the dolled-off water jump.

That manoeuvre caused Barry Geraghty to take swift evasive action which was only fully apparent on the head-on footage, but it didn’t check his momentum enough to impact the result. Deyrann De Carjac (Alan King/Tom Cannon) loomed at the penultimate fence, but lacked the pace of the other pair on the run-in.

There was early drama when Dashel Drasher unseated Matt Griffiths at the first, and caused issues for Champ who stumbled badly with the loose horse in his way on the first circuit. He soon recovered though, and while Black Op jumped better than him on the whole, the winner has a smart turn of foot for a stayer, as he showed at Aintree in April, and he now heads to the Grade 2 Dipper Novices’ Chase at Cheltenham on New Year’s Day.

The two-and-a-half-mile handicap chase produced the finish of the day, with Old Grangewood finishing best to nail the gambled-on Kalashnikov by a nose after the runner-up had collared long-time leader Glen Forsa at the second last.

Victory looked assured for the Amy Murphy-trained Kalashnikov, who won the Grade 1 Manifesto Novices’ Chase at Aintree last season, but Jack Quinlan’s mount was worn down in the final stride.

The winner was given a superb waiting ride by Harry Skelton, and was repeating his win in the same contest two years ago. The winner had dropped to a decent mark, and the placed horses were both graded winners in the spring as novices, so the form looks very solid.

The day began with a maiden hurdle with a prestigious roll of honour. Winners of it in the past decade include Kid Cassidy, Puffin Billy, Different Gravey, Buveur D’Air, Jenkins, Lostintranslation and Bright Forecast.

Four of those were trained by Nicky Henderson, and he improved his tally with the promising Son Of Camas (Nico de Boinville), who rewarded backers odds of 3/1 to beat favourite King Roland (Harry Fry/Sean Bowen) by a length. He was carrying the red and pink colours of Jared Sullivan, just as Buveur D’Air did when winning this in 2015.

Fancied to win the Land Rover Bumper at Punchestown on his debut, the son of Creachadoir trailed home last, but has now won both starts over hurdles at Newbury, and looks a smart prospect, as does the runner-up, an unbeaten bumper performer last season.

Harrington winner

JESSICA Harrington struck at Kempton on Thursday with Bella Brazil in the seven-furlong nursery at Kempton, having recently been sent the filly, owned by former BHB chairman Peter Savill, from the Yorkshire yard of David Barron.

She was 5lbs out of the weights in the Class 3 contest, and looked to have plenty on her plate, but Hollie Doyle galvanised her to excellent effect, and she won going away. She should pay her way at Dundalk should connections keep her on the go.