Cheltenham Saturday
SPILLANE’S Tower (Jimmy Mangan/Jack Kennedy) bounced back to the smart form he showed in 2024 to win the Betfair Cotswold Chase, putting himself in the reckoning for the Gold Cup in March.
Jack Kennedy allowed L’Homme Presse (Venetia Williams/Charlie Deutsch) his own way in front, with uneasy favourite Grey Dawning tracking the pair. The complexion of the race then changed when the latter made an error at the penultimate fence, allowing Spillane’s Tower to jump to the front at the final fence before holding off the renewed challenge of L’Homme Presse by three parts of a length, with Grey Dawning (Dan/Harry Skelton) beaten five lengths in total in third. The winner was returned at 11/4.
Paddy Power made the winner 10/1 for the Gold Cup in March and Mangan said: “I would have gone back to Ireland a disappointed man if he had put up a poor show today. Grey Dawning is a very good horse and Venetia’s horse has made him fight; it was no walkover. I suppose you do have to start dreaming of the Gold Cup and he’s in that grade now.
“He’s a lovely horse and he’s a star. I wouldn’t mind a few more like him and if it wasn’t for J.P. sending me horses like him I might be closed, but that’s the way the game goes, you are at the top of the ladder one minute and then at the bottom the next. It’s my first in Britain since Monty’s Pass and I thought I nearly had one with Oscar Delta one day, but this is great.”
Gino injury
Cheltenham’s Trials Day fixture provided its share of Festival clues, but was overshadowed by an injury to Sir Gino in the Grade 2 Unibet Hurdle. The odds-on favourite went badly lame on landing over the third-last hurdle and was later found to have incurred a fractured pelvis.
That injury may not prove career ending, which is good news given first appearances, but will keep him off the track for the rest of the season at least.
Victory in the Unibet Hurdle went to 9/4 second-favourite The New Lion (Dan/Harry Skelton), although last year’s Baring Bingham winner was only workmanlike in beating Nemean Lion (Kerry Lee/Conor O’Farrell), who was conceding weight, by a length and a half, with rank outsider Brentford Hope edged out for second by a nose. As a result, his Champion Hurdle odds shortened only marginally to a general 3/1.
Ma stirs Paisley memories
Emma Lavelle trained Paisley Park to win the Cleeve Hurdle three times, and she revived memories of that top-class stayer as she saddled the improving Ma Shantou (Ben Jones), to beat favourite Impose Toi (Nicky Henderson/Nico de Boinville) by seven lengths in the latest renewal of the Grade 2 feature.
The seven-year-old attracted plenty of support and was sent off a strong 5/2 chance behind evens-favourite Impose Toi and justified that support with a career-best effort to make his breakthrough in Pattern company.
His win saw his odds for the Stayers’ Hurdle cut from 50/1 to 6/1 with sponsors Paddy Power and he will attempt to emulate his former stablemate by completing the Cleeve/Stayers’ double.
“I’m shocked, in a way, by how visually impressive he was,” said Lavelle. “I was hopeful he’d run a big race, but I didn’t expect him to do it the way he did.”
Jones, celebrating his third Grade 2 winner of the month, said: “You’d be very grumpy if you weren’t smiling with the run I’ve had over the last couple of weeks. It’s been brilliant. We threw him in at the deep end, but he jumped superbly and just got better as the race went on.”
Conti the Maestro
Dan Skelton looks to have a good hand for the Triumph Hurdle. Precious Man was an impressive winner at Kempton earlier this month and Maestro Conti (Harry Skelton) confirmed the promise of his hurdles debut by landing the JCB Triumph Hurdle Trial at Cheltenham on Saturday at odds of 5/2.
The son of Prince Gibraltar pulled quite hard, but was still able to quicken after the last to pass front-running One Horse Town and win by two lengths, with favourite Minella Yoga (Paul Nicholls/Harry Cobden) another length back in third. He was trimmed from 10/1 to 7/1 for the Triumph on the back of this success.
Hole on track gives late drama
The final race of the day was the Grade 2 Classic Novices’ Hurdle, run this year under the sponsorship of AIS, and it provided unwelcome headlines when delayed until near dusk by the discovery of a large hole in the turf.
The race was run in gloomy conditions and ended with a potentially controversial photo-finish, although the judge was just able to ascertain that 14/1 chance Kripticjim (Joe Tizzard/Brendan Powell) had held on by a short head from the challenge of Taurus Bay (Ben Pauling/Ben Jones).
Cheltenham clerk Jon Pullin conceded that the hole, which appeared adjacent to the penultimate fence, might have been the result of a collapsed drain, but was happy it was isolated and the race was run after the rail was moved to protect the area. Connections were asked if they were happy to proceed and a final check ensured there was (just) enough light to allow the race to be run safely.
Nicky Henderson withdrew his intended runner, but made it clear that was due to the softening ground and not for safety concerns. The decision to run was met by some negativity, with critics citing both the potential safety issue and the long delay, while the result of the race had to be determined by examining the replay as the photo-finish equipment was ineffective due to the poor light.
Parallels were also made between this and the St Leger meeting of 1989 at Doncaster, where racing went ahead after Madraco fell and broke a leg two furlongs out while leading the Portland Handicap. His trainer, Liam Codd, claimed to have found a two-foot hole on the course at the same point when investigating, but Codd’s claims were ignored.
Two days later, the meeting was abandoned after another front-runner, Able Player, fell in identical circumstances, and this time the existence of a collapsed drain was admitted, and the meeting abandoned.
The important contrast is that ground staff at Cheltenham found and fixed the problem to the best of their ability on Saturday, whereas Doncaster’s denial of any issue was dangerously irresponsible.
Around the tracks
TRAINER Paul Nolan sent two horses to Doncaster on Saturday and both won their graded races, both ridden by Sean O’Keeffe.
Thedeviluno emerged as a genuine contender for Cheltenham Festival honours with a commanding display in the Virgin Bet Daily Extra Places River Don Novices’ Hurdle. The gelding went on his way as a 15/2 chance, and was given an ultra-patient ride by Sean O’Keeffe, who was at pains to keep his mount on the bridle as long as possible. With stamina in abundance, the pair went on to win by five lengths from Country Code.
Half an hour later, Nolan and O’Keeffe combined to win the Grade 2 Yorkshire Rose Mares’ Hurdle with Feet Of A Dancer. The seven-year-old mare, who had finished second to Wodooh at Leopardstown over Christmas, was sent off the 7/4 favourite and won by two lengths, leading home an Irish-trained 1-2-3. She was followed in by Dream On Baby (Emmet Mullins) and Jetara (Jessica Harrington).
Elliott’s Ayr raid
Gordon Elliott and Sean Bowen combined for a double at Ayr on Thursday. Apples Jane (3/1), making her own breakthrough, initiated the brace when taking the opening mares’ maiden hurdle by five and a half lengths from Klassy Pearl. Three races later, 8/11 favourite Stede Bonnet followed up on a Tramore maiden hurdle success to take the Coral Novices’ Hurdle by four and a half lengths from Irandando Has.