Conditional jockey Callum Pritchard celebrated what he described as the ‘best moment of his life’ after steering stable stalwart Al Dancer to an enterprising front running success in the 63rd Badger Beer Handicap Chase at Wincanton.
Having only partnered his first winner since taking out his conditional licence at Newton Abbot on October 30th the 23-year-old secured the first, of what he hopes, will be many big race triumphs in the Premier Handicap aboard the evergreen eleven-year-old.
In a race few truly got into the Sam Thomas-trained grey set his stall out from the moments the tapes rose with Pritchard sending his mount into a lead he would not relinquish in the three miles one furlong feature.
Although recent course scorer Remastered attempted to match strides he couldn’t quite get on terms with the 25/1 chance before coming to grief at the fourth last to leave the Al Namix gelding with a commanding lead turning for home.
Well backed favourite Lord Accord went off in hot pursuit, but his efforts mounted to very little as Al Dancer continued to pour on the pressure down the home straight before cruising home by ten lengths.
Pritchard said: “To ride that fellow in a big race like that is unreal. That is the best moment of my life. It means a lot. I feel sorry for Dylan Johnston, who usually rides all of Sam’s, but he couldn’t ride him today due to other circumstances (whip ban).
“It is a big shout out to him as does all the hard work at home so it is nice he gets a mention. It was all happening to easy, but he is electric. He was always nicely in his stride and he never felt like he was flat to the boards and he never felt like I was going to slow.
“He jumped, and got into a lovely rhythm, and it all fell into place. I couldn’t believe how far we went on at the end as I was waiting for them to come and swallow me up. Turning in before three out I just gave him a slap and I felt him lift up a gear so I thought we always had a bit left, it was just a case of what the others were doing in behind me.
“I know I had one upsides me, and the noise went, so I threw everything at him and luckily it worked out. All I was concentrating on was getting over the last. I only rode my first winner as a conditional about 10 days ago, then one on Wednesday for Rebecca Curtis, so hopefully it will take off now.”
And the success is all the more significant for Pritchard, who is now based with Ben Pauling, with the Welsh based rider admitting that a career as jockey was not something he had not initially dreamed of as a youngster.
He added: “I had nothing to do with horses as a kid but I was with the hunt service for a few years. My girlfriend Hannah had a pointer with nobody to ride it and me, being me, got my licence. I thought I would give it a crack and the love grew from then. I was absolutely not a natural from the start. I could stay on, but I had a lot of learning to do.
"The same with point-to-pointing I had a lot of good opportunities from people and things just fell into place and it took off from there and hopefully with this big winner I can do the same thing under rules.”
As for winning trainer Thomas, who never won the race as a jockey, he had nothing but admiration for Al Dancer, who he quickly hailed as a ‘hero’ following his latest triumph.
The handler said: “He is a hero. He had a real bad cut on his off hind at Sandown. He must have done it early on in the race as he was never quite at the races after that. He took a long time to get that heeled, hence why he is running now and not a bit sooner in the season.
“What can you say. I’m a bit overwhelmed with him to be honest. He won the Grand Seftton two seasons ago. He is just a mega horse and every trainer needs youngsters coming through, but you need these older boys to keep flying the flag.
“That is the sixth season he has won first time out and that speaks volumes. You are a passenger on this horse and it sounds silly but the more the horse feels in charge the better performance you are going to get. What can I say, he is a legend of a horse.
“All credit to the team at home, and well done to Mr Walters for allowing me to have these lovely horses. It was only after the last that I thought we had won. I was tempted to jump over the rail with a circuit to go to tell him take a pull. When he is well, and he is happy and fresh, that is what he is capable of.”
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