Sandown Saturday

THE ground at Sandown was very testing after rain and the Imperial Cup turned into a severe test at the trip, with half of the 16-strong field pulling up, but the conditions were no problem for Iceo (Paul Nicholls/Harry Cobden), who provided the second leg of a double for owner, and the first of a double for trainer and jockey.

The 5/1 shot was keen on his way to post but settled well at the rear of the field for Cobden and made stealthy headway from halfway.

He was in touch with the leaders at the top of the long home straight, went on between the last two, and although not fluent at the final hurdle, recovered well to pull three and three-quarter lengths clear of Knickerbockerglory (Dan Skelton/Bridget Andrews), who had made all the running until the winner took over, and kept on valiantly when headed to repel his stablemate Playful Saint (Harry Skelton) for second.

Iceo seems best fresh, running his best race last term on his debut for Paul Nicholls at Kempton before running below form twice, and he has been campaigned with that in mind this term, running a race full of promise when runner-up here on Tolworth Hurdle day on his belated return, and then given over two months off before returning to this venue.

He clearly relishes testing ground, and had no problem getting through ground which even confirmed mudlarks like Metier seemed to find too much.

An embryonic chaser, he’s likely to stay a fair bit beyond two miles in time, and is typical of the type that his trainer does so well with.

“Today was always the plan and Chris has been backing him all week,” said the winning trainer.

“If the ground had been good, they might have gone too quick for him, he wants a trip really.”

A RED-letter day for owner Chris Giles at Sandown on Saturday started when the Fergal O’Brien-trained Crambo (Connor Brace) rallied to land the valuable EBF Final by half a length from Inneston (Gary/Jamie Moore), with a gap of eight lengths back to Hugos New Horse (Paul Nicholls/Angus Cheleda) in third.

Neither of the first two jumped the last hurdle cleanly, but Crambo recovered best, and having been headed by the runner-up at the penultimate flight, he ground that rival down to gain a narrow win at an SP of 15/2.

Crambo is one of a number of horses currently owned in partnership by Giles and Jared Sullivan, and he looks a cracking prospect for chasing down the line.

Poor run

The only blip in his record is a poor run behind Hermes Allen in the Challow Hurdle, and an 8lb rise to a mark of 131 does not look that harsh given his record of five wins in six starts under rules, although he does appear to need soft or heavy going.

Novice chasing would appear to be on the agenda next season according to Giles, although he is keen to have runners at Ayr’s Scottish National meeting, and that would be where he would like to go next with his improving six-year-old.

Inneston shaped very well in second and perhaps hit the front too soon, looking the winner when tackling Crambo initially, but just outslogged for all he stayed the trip well enough.

Note: for both of the feature hurdle races, the final flight in the back straight was omitted due to the state of the ground, meaning only seven flights were jumped in each race.

Nicholls double

The Listed Mares’ bumper saw Larchmont Lass give Paul Nicholls and Harry Cobden a double on the card.

The daughter of Walk In The Park seemed to need every yard in the ground to get the better of the morning favourite Casa No Mento (Nigel/Sam Twiston-Davies) by a neck.

Wearing a first-time hood on her third start, she was unable to pick up initially when asked, but stayed on gradually from mid-field to get on terms, and put her head in front only in the dying strides to give SP backers a 9/2 payout.