A CHANGE of scenery has worked the oracle with Riders On the Storm. The six-year-old son of Scorpion (Montjeu) was sold back in May at the Goffs UK Spring Sale for £50,000 out of Tom Taaffe’s yard and he was bought by Hamish Macauley Bloodstock. Sent to Nigel Twiston-Davies, he won his purchase price back in November when he was successful at Aintree, and his victory at Ascot on Saturday put him more than £30,000 in credit.

A useful hurdler and chaser in Ireland, he was listed-placed over the smaller obstacles and third in the Grade 1 Matchbook Greenmount Novice Chase, though a long way behind Hardline and Getabird. Bred by Taaffe, he is from a family that the trainer knows well. One of just two runners to date out of his unraced dam Endless Moments (Saddlers’ Hall), Riders On the Storm has a four-year-old half-brother Famous Moment (Fame And Glory) who sold last year as a store at the Derby Sale for €125,000. That gelding’s three-year-old full-brother was purchased as a foal by Bryan Murphy in Adare for €42,000.