THE inaugural Ladbrokes Winter Carnival opened on a bright, crisp afternoon at Newbury yesterday and there could hardly have been a bigger shock as 40/1 outsider Beer Goggles made all the running in the Grade 2 Ladbrokes Long Distance Hurdle to beat Unowhati- meanharry and Taquin Du Seuil.

The big disappointment was King George winner Thistlecrack, who was a well-supported 11/10 favourite despite his long absence and well-publicised tendon injury. He seemed to travel well through the race but found very little in the closing stages.

Given a bold but very well-judged ride by Richard Johnson, Beer Goggles took the step up in class in his stride and always appeared to be travelling well.

As they turned for home he was moving powerfully, with Unowhatimeanharry trying to challenge on his inner and Thistlecrack edging to the stands’ rails as the task began to look far from routine.

Unowhatimeanharry tried hard on the run-in but Beer Goggles, a six-year-old by Oscar, was actually pulling away close home. There was no fluke whatsoever about the result, with Unowhatimeanharry’s trainer Harry Fry admitting the best horse won on the day.

GREAT FORM

“He’s been in great form and ran very well under top weight at Aintree.

“Yes, I’m surprised but I just let him do what he wanted and we were both happy all the way round,” Johnson said with a smile.

This was far and away the biggest success of his career for trainer Richard Woollacott, who seemed quite overcome.

“I’m nearly crying, it’s absolutely fantastic,” he said. “He’s won off 104 and we just thought we could have some fun. But we’ve a couple of new owners in the yard now and some slightly better horses. You just have to enjoy big winners like this because they don’t come around all the time!”