THE other winning times on Thursday were nothing special, in particular the Stayers’ Hurdle, which was run at a crawl for the standard of horse on show. That was something which was most unlikely to suit the favourite and front-runner Sam Spinner given how much stamina he had shown when running a fast time in victory in the Long Walk Hurdle at Ascot.

The runners ended up the best part of a furlong behind those in the earlier Pertemps Network Handicap Hurdle, won by Delta Work, before a mad dash to the line, for which Penhill proved well equipped. Penhill’s timefigure comes out at just 107: he had managed 146 when winning the Albert Bartlett here 12 months before.