Wincanton Saturday
Boodles Rising Stars Novices’ Chase
THE Grade 2 Rising Stars Novices’ Chase saw favourite Handstands crash out on chasing debut and it was left to a pair with experience to fight out the finish, with the gallant Soul Icon (Kieran Burke/Tom Bellamy) caught close home by the patiently ridden Boombawn (Dan/Harry Skelton), with the winner returned at 8/1.
Boombawn made a winning chase debut in May and has been kept busy since, improving on his third in a Listed novice at Chepstow to get back to winning ways, while the runner-up is battle-hardened in handicaps and has now finished second on his last five starts over fences, despite looking perfectly genuine.
Both Boombawn and Soul Icon appear best on good ground, so it’s likely that they will be put away during the winter, with spring festival handicaps looking more likely options than top-level novice events.
Elite Hurdle
The Paul Nicholls yard has been slow to find form this autumn, but he tends to do very well at this meeting and took the feature contest on the card, when Rubaud (Harry Cobden) made all the running to win the Grade 2 Elite Hurdle for the second year in succession.
The 11/10 favourite was being pressed by Brentford Hope (Harry Derham/Paul O’Brien), when that one made a vital mistake at the last, allowing the winner to score cosily by a length and a quarter. Aspire Tower was probably unsuited to the sharp test, but was still a rather disappointing last of the three runners.
63rd Badger Beer Handicap Chase
Young conditional Callum Pritchard took the riding honours on the day, with a swashbuckling ride from the front on Al Dancer (Sam Thomas) in the Badger Beer Chase.
The pair set a very strong pace, but managed to keep the chasing pack at bay, as others were let down by their jumping under pressure.
Al Dancer, a 25/1 chance, was enhancing an excellent record fresh to win off a mark of 154 and, while he will now be hard to place, his rider deserves great credit for his execution of bold tactics.
The pair passed the line 10 lengths and seven and a half lengths to the good over Lord Accord (Neil Mulholland/Richie McLernon) and Gustavian (Anthony Honeyball/Gavin Sheehan).
“That is the sixth season he has won first time out and that speaks volumes,” said a proud Sam Thomas.
“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.”
Doncaster Saturday
Wentworth Stakes
ROOM Service (Kevin Ryan/Tom Eaves) got back to winning ways, when landing the Listed Livescore Wentworth Stakes at Doncaster, a track where he gained his biggest success last season.
The 10/3 chance travelled sweetly and took command when asked, albeit having to dig deep to hold the late challenge of Balmoral Lady by a neck.
The winner was viewed as a Guineas prospect early in the season, but flopped in the Greenham Stakes and needed wind surgery mid-season before returning to his best on his last two starts, and Ryan believes he will improve next season, with a step up to seven furlongs expected to suit.
Gillies Fillies’ Stakes
Estrange (David O’Meara/James Doyle) made an indelible impression, when slamming a couple of next-time-out winners by a wide margin on her belated debut at Goodwood in August and confirmed every bit of that promise at the second time of asking, when the 7/2 shot ran out a decisive winner of the Listed Virgin Bet Irish EBF Gillies Fillies’ Stakes.
Unraced for John and Thady Gosden, she clearly took plenty of time to come to herself, but looked a future star on soft ground first time out; she didn’t have much go her way on her first try at listed company in the John Musker Fillies’ Stakes at Yarmouth, but the return to a soft surface allowed her to express herself fully.
Pushed along early in the straight, she took time to hit top gear, but when she did, she powered to the front inside the final furlong to beat market rival Danielle (John and Thady Gosden/Kieran Shoemark) by a length and three-quarters.
Doyle said: “She didn’t do a lot wrong at Yarmouth. The ground was probably quicker than she wants, and she ran into a wall of horses two out. She’s got the ability to switch off, which is key in this deep ground, so I put her to sleep early and was able to ride a race on her.
“I think there’s plenty to come. She stays well and next year she’ll have plenty of options. She’s got a good engine.”
Around the tracks
AINTREE staged its first race of the season over the Grand National fences and the executive will have been pleased to see that, like the National itself, there were no fallers in the Grand Sefton, with the only casualty of the race being Harper’s Brook, who pulled up having broken a blood vessel.
Victory went to 9/2 chance King Turgeon (David Pipe/Jack Tudor), who jumped well to win by three and a quarter lengths and a length from Vintage Fizz and Gaboriot, with lowly weighted runners filling the first three spots.
Lucinda Russell was the latest to reach a career landmark, with Starlyte giving the Kinross handler her 1,000th success under rules at Kelso on Saturday. The trainer, soon to have Michael Scudamore join her on the licence, had her first success in a maiden hunter chase at the same venue in 1993.
There is also some symmetry in the career of lightweight jockey Jimmy Quinn, who called time on his career at Doncaster on Saturday, having made his debut on Town Moor 40 years earlier. There was no fairytale, with Quinn well down the field in the November Handicap, but the 57-year-old made the most of his talent over the years and went out on his own terms.