Warwick Saturday

GALIA Des Liteaux (Dan/Harry Skelton) was badly let down by her jumping when a strong fancy for the Kauto Star Novices’ Chase at Kempton on St Stephen’s Day, but was foot-perfect as she made virtually all the running to land the Grade 2 eventmasters.co.uk Hampton Novices’ Chase at Warwick on Saturday at a generous SP of 11/4.

Galia Des Liteaux looked a chaser with a big future when landing a listed event for mares on her chasing debut, but an early error at Kempton seemed to frighten her, and she was unable to find any rhythm in the Kauto Star, and was pulled up.

She showed that her trainer’s high opinion of her was fully justified in this retrieval mission, however, and her jumping was better than that of her rivals in a flawless display, with the daughter of Saddler Maker beating Ffos Las scorer Complete Unknown (Paul Nicholls/Lorcan Williams) by 13 lengths.

“She made a very bad mistake at the second jump in the Kauto Star and I don’t think anyone would really have beaten Thyme Hill that day,” said Dan Skelton. “It’s almost a blessing in disguise that she did that because it meant she didn’t have a hard race.

“Harry did the right thing pulling her up because she wasn’t going. If he had kept going she possibly wouldn’t have been here today. It is very easy to say we will go for the Towton (at Wetherby) in three weeks’ time because it will be heavy and it will suit her, but I harbour more respect for her than that. We could wait another two weeks and consider the Reynoldstown.

“If you got a really, really soft Cheltenham then it would come into consideration, but then you would have to skip the Reynoldstown because you couldn’t do both. Then I’ll see what mares’ races are available over the other side of the Irish Sea because I can’t see any over here jumping off the page at me at the moment other than the Festival.”

Dawning toughs it

Grey Dawning added to a fine day for the Skelton family at Warwick as he stayed on best to land the Grade 2 Leamington Novices’ Hurdle at 9/2.

This was a step up in class for the gelding who had won a handicap hurdle at Kempton on St Stephen’s Day from a mark of 123, but he’s clearly thriving, and Harry Skelton was clever in delivering him between rivals before the last hurdle, as it helped keep him straight, and he shrugged off a bump to beat Ginny’s Destiny (Tom Lacey/Stan Sheppard) by five lengths.

The beaming winning trainer said: “We’ve always liked him. I had to go to Kempton because he was so well handicapped and I knew I wanted to come here with something. He’ll go any trip and he can go further. Harry said he wasn’t loving the ground – he gets away with it, but he wasn’t loving it.

“My immediate reaction is he should be going three miles rather than two and a half. We’ll enter him in the Albert Bartlett and if we weren’t happy with that we would go to Aintree.

“We will see how he is and how the landscape looks for Cheltenham, but I would be highly surprised if he ran at Cheltenham if it was anything other than the Friday.

“Over three miles you could probably ride him a bit more and arrive later on the scene. In a weird way, what happened at the last probably isn’t the worst thing in the world to get a bump and make him concentrate because when he hit the front at Kempton he ran all over the shop.”

Performance

Training performance of the weekend, and possibly the season so far, went to Sam Thomas, who produced Iwilldoit (Stan Sheppard) to win the Wigley Group Classic Handicap Chase after 383 days off the track.

Iwilldoit, last seen when winning the Welsh Grand National in 2021, was always travelling kindly just behind the leaders, and the 12/1 shot soon put the race to bed when produced to lead on the home turn, beating a staying-on Mr Incredible (Willie Mullins/Brian Hayes) by almost three lengths, with 2021 winner Notachance (Alan King/Tom Cannon) another length away in third.

It’s hard to imagine that a horse who has won both the Welsh National and the Classic Chase could be ineligible for the Grand National, but that is the reality with new restrictions for Aintree brought in a few years ago, and Iwilldoit will need another run over fences before February 19th in order to gain entry to the Aintree showpiece, with the Denman Chase at Newbury and the Ascot Chase the races under consideration.

Sam Thomas revealed that despite a setback that meant Iwilldoit was not ready to defend his Welsh National crown, the gelding is now much easier to train, and that augurs well for a bid for National glory in April.

“Before the Welsh National last year he was hardly ridden,” confirmed Thomas. “He’s notoriously been a fussy eater and a worrier but, as the years have gone on, he’s matured and knows what his job is – he’s certainly easier to train than he was.

“He’s one-paced but very genuine. You won’t find another horse to try like him – it’s very straightforward when they want to do it just like him.”

Kempton Saturday

THE Grade 2 Silviniaco Conti Chase proved a straightforward task for Pic D’Orhy (Paul Nicholls/Harry Cobden), who jumped well bar an error at the first fence in the home straight, and the 6/4 favourite belied any concerns about his ability to handle the soft ground by pulling 16 lengths clear of the veteran Clondaw Castle (Tom George/Johnny Burke), who ran well on his return from a lengthy absence.

Winning owner Johnny de la Hey suggested that the winner would go to the Ascot Chase next with the Melling Chase at Aintree under consideration thereafter, with a flat track seen as quite important to him.

Coral Lanzarote Hurdle

Saturdays and Skeltons seem to go hand in hand this term, and Dan made it four wins from seven runners across three meetings when 12/1 shot West Balboa landed an attritional running of the Lanzarote Hurdle in which only four of the 20 runners completed.

Ridden by the trainer’s sister-in-law Bridget Andrews, West Balboa just fended off the challenge of Red Risk (Paul Nicholls/Freddie Gingell) by a short- head, with the Charles Byrnes-trained favourite Green Glory far from disgraced despite finishing last of the quartet to complete the course.

West Balboa was runner-up in the Grade 1 Challow Hurdle last season and was building on a promising return at Sandown last month having been absent since that fine Newbury effort.

She was overcoming inexperience and, although only just clinging on, would appear to be a mare with more to offer, and is one to keep on side.

Round Up

BILLY Loughnane has made quite a splash since having his first ride in late October, and the 16-year-old son of trainer Mark Loughnane rode his first treble at Wolverhampton on Monday. Arcadian Nights and Follow Your Heart scored for his father, with Business saddled by Sean Curran. Another three winners followed later in the week and, at close of play on Thursday, he had ridden a remarkable 12 winners from 52 rides.