Nells Son ran down Unexpected Party to spring a 12/1 surprise in the Weatherbys nhstallions.co.uk Graduation Chase at Carlisle.
All eyes were on Paul Nicholls’ chasing debutant Kalif Du Berlais, who was sent off as the 4/11 favourite. He'd impressed with how he jumped and travelled until the final ditch, four-out, when he dived at the fence and took a crashing fall.
Thankfully, the four-year-old and Harry Cobden both seemed to emerge unscathed from the incident.
At that stage the eventual runner-up looked to be leading his two surviving rivals a merry dance but the winner was very strong on the climb to the line and passed the front-runner to score by a length.
Winning trainer Nicky Richards will take his time with Nells Son, with an assignment at Cheltenham next month a potential target.
He said: “I knew he was in grand order. Obviously, he was wrong (at the weights) with a few of them, but he wasn’t that far wrong. He settled into a lovely rhythm and it panned out lovely for us. I don’t know if we’d have beaten Mr Nicholls’ horse, but we’ll take a nice prize and he’s had his day in the sun today anyway.
“He’s a horse that probably wants to be fresh in himself, so we probably won’t rush forward. He acts on a bit of soft ground as well, so we’re not forced to do anything with him for six weeks or so. We’ll freshen him up nicely and there might be a race for him at the December meeting at Cheltenham or something like that.
“We’ll just let the dust settle and make a plan, but he’s very versatile track-wise and he’s a very consistent horse, so hopefully he’ll have another nice day.”
Nicholls later posted on X: “Thank you for everyone’s concerns but thankfully Kalif Du Berlais is fine and on his way home after a full veterinary check.”
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