IT was Winter Carnival at Newbury on Friday and Saturday and the feature race of the two-day Newbury meeting was the Ladbroke Chase which for the second successive year saw the yellow, green and white silks of the late Trevor Hemmings carried to success albeit this time by shock 33/1 winner Cloudy Glen (152).

As his trainer Venetia Williams explained in her post race interview, the eight-year-old is difficult to predict but there is every reason to believe the time-figure, given the figures Fiddlerontheroof (152) has run to in the past and the fact the pair pulled so far clear of their toiling rivals adds further credence to the performance being handicap chase form of the highest quality.

However, the two horses to take from the day over fences are the new kids on the block Ahoy Senor (157+) and Il Ridoto (150+) won both won comfortably in time figures almost the equal of the feature race when adjusted for distance, while also recording significantly better closing data.

As you would expect, the pace of the two-mile handicap chase which closed the card was strong from the outset with the eventual second Numitor (142) and Grey Diamond (132) jousting for the lead, a battle eventually won by Grey Diamond.

Adrift

Ahoy Senor would not have matched the early pace, although he would only have been 18 lengths adrift by the time the races reached the cross-fence when using the last fence with a circuit to complete as a starting point.

Cloth Cap (136), who led the Ladbroke Chase, would have been a further five lengths behind.

The closing sectionals were all about Ahoy Senor as Lucinda Russell’s gelding completed the race from the cross fence in 84.6 seconds, a full second faster than Il Ridoto who closed off in 85.6 seconds.

The gap between the two would have closed to around 10 lengths and could have been less when considering Ahoy Senor could have run faster through the closing stages.

Cloudy Glen’s finishing split was 88.8 seconds from the same point and Kapcorse (136) covered the ground in 87.3 seconds.

The mark of a top-class staying chaser is carrying two-mile speed into the latter stages of a race which is exactly what Ahoy Senor achieved, he looks destined to take very high order in the novice chase division judged on this display.

Newbury Friday

Friday’s Newbury card was the most interesting from a novice hurdler standpoint with Paul Nicholls’ Stage Star (145) demonstrating a smart turn of foot following what was a more than reasonable gallop.

The stable won the same race with Bravemansgame last year and look to have a similarly smart novice this year who will take all the beating in the Challow Hurdle based on this performance.

The five-year-old’s overall time was only slightly behind Thomas Darby (147) when adjusted for distance but there was a stark difference in the closing sectionals in favour of the Ditcheat youngster.

Stage Star ran the closing sectional from the third last hurdle in 56.8 seconds compared to the Grade 2 winner who covered the same ground in 59.5 seconds.

To add further substance to the closing sectional data the exciting and undoubtedly talented Jonbon (120+) clocked 56.2 seconds as he also sauntered to an easy victory off a very slow pace.