A review of the action and free video replays from Saturday's meeting at Newcastle.
Williams team strike again
Ned Fox and Venetia Williams teamed up for the second weekend in a row to win a valuable handicap chase, this time with Frero Banbou at Newcastle.
Whereas last Saturday it was Mortator who landed the spoils for the in-form duo over two miles, Frero Banbou had to prove his stamina over three miles.
Fox took up the running with almost a mile to go as Ben Pauling’s Bowtogreatness checked out, and Frero Banbou’s slick jumping meant he was always going to be hard to catch.
However, favourite The Changing Man moved stylishly into contention for Brendan Powell and approaching the second-last looked to have all the momentum.
He got in a bit tight, though, meaning the advantage was back with Frero Banbou (17/2) and when The Changing Man also failed to ping the last, Fox was able to drive his mount out to win by a length and a quarter.
“It’s brilliant, I’m very fortunate to be in the position to ride nice horses on a Saturday for Venetia,” said Fox. “He’s got a bit of scope to him in fairness, he ran over the National fences last time which helped him switching back to the normal ones, he’s a brilliant jumper.
“That was his first run over almost three miles so he had to prove his stamina today, too. He’s pretty versatile, all ground seems to come alike to him. It’s good ground today, but he’s won on heavy as well. That’s my first winner at the track so great to get another crossed off.”
Inappropriate floors hotpot in opener
Lavender Hill Mob suffered a shock reverse on his jumping debut, finishing well-beaten behind Inappropriate in the Paul Ferguson’s Jumpers To Follow ‘Introductory’ Juvenile Hurdle.
Seventh in the Queen’s Vase at Royal Ascot, the reappearance of Lavender Hill Mob (2/7 favourite) had been eagerly-awaited ever since trainer James Owen mentioned him favourably in post-race dispatches following the runaway Cheltenham success of stablemate East India Dock last month.
It did seem to be going relatively to plan until things started to hot up, and Nico de Boinville’s mount was treading water when the Jedd O’Keeffe-trained Inappropriate (11-2) swept clear on what was both his jumping debut and first run for his new stable after leaving Harry Eustace.
O’Keeffe, who has his small string in good form, said: “We’re very pleased, we decided to have a punt at this race. We won it a few years ago with a horse we bought at the sales (Tavus, 2019) and it was a fairly small field that day so we thought we might get a small field again.
“We thought it was a nice place to start, even if he didn’t win it looked a nice place to introduce him. We’ve always liked him a lot at home and his jumping has always been exceptional, there’s a really nice rhythm and shape to the way he jumps and it was the same today.
“We haven’t made any plans, if there’s another race like this, quite valuable, that would be great, but I haven’t really looked beyond today in truth.”
He added: “Juvenile hurdles are different these days, there’s a lot of ex-French in them as the jumps trainers generally can’t compete with the overseas market but we managed to find him, so I’m delighted.”
'He reminds me of a Champion Hurdle horse'
Skyjack Hijack (10/11 favourite) has been a revelation this season and Jennie Candlish’s charge won for the sixth time in succession in the Weatherbys nhstallions.co.uk ‘The French Furze’ Novices’ Hurdle.
There are few hurdlers in training who get from one side of a hurdle to the other quicker than him and it must be a real thrill for Sean Quinlan riding him.
Adopting usual front-running tactics, Tony Martin’s Zanndabad was the only one to get within hailing distance but he was still beaten nine and a half lengths.
Alan O’Keeffe, Candlish’s partner and assistant, said: “He’s been great, he goes a good gallop and keeps going, jumping is his biggest asset.
“I honestly think the way he jumps he reminds me of a Champion Hurdle horse as he spends no time at all in the air and is very accurate.
“That will be it for a while now as he’s been busy and the ground will start to change. How high can he go? He’s doing everything right but Sean maybe thought he just wasn’t quite as sharp today and he got warm at the start so that indicates he needs a break.
“I wouldn’t expect we’d see him until February time and then Cheltenham comes into the equation. Whether than is handicaps or the Albert Bartlett we’ll see. It takes a fair horse to win six and he’s beaten some decent horses there.”
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