THE Grade 2 Winter Novices’ Hurdle at Sandown on Friday (yesterday) threw up something of a surprise when 10/1 shot Enrilo (Paul Nicholls/Harry Cobden) got the better of tenacious front-runner House Island (Paul Webber/Gavin Sheehan), having been beaten 34 lengths by the same rival in an ordinary event at Ludlow last month.

In fairness to Enrilo, he shaped better than the distance beaten at Ludlow, but was very hard to steer under Bryony Frost that day, and while plenty of horses go very sweetly for the darling of the press, some clearly don’t.