Haydock Saturday

ROYALE Pagaille (Venetia Williams/Charlie Deutsch) seems to save his very best for Haydock and did so again as he lowered the colours of hot favourite Bravemansgame (Paul Nicholls/Daryl Jacob) to give the in-form Venetia Williams her first open Grade 1 win since Lady Rebecca won the Cleeve Hurdle in 2001.

The 5/1 chance made an early mistake, but jumped well otherwise, whereas 2022 winner Protektorat ruined his chance with a series of misjudgements, reaching for several fences and ballooning others, so that he was a spent force some way out; that left the race as a virtual match and Royale Pagaille pressed ahead early in the straight before keeping on too stoutly for Bravemansgame, who went down by six and a half lengths.

Corach Rambler couldn’t go the early gallop but stayed on well for third, another nine lengths back.

Williams, who has her string in red-hot form, said: “Charlie got him into a great rhythm but he said for the first circuit he was quite laid back and not really grabbing the bridle, it wasn’t until he pulled him out wide that he did. He jumped very well, but if you’d seen him school on Thursday you wouldn’t believe it.

“But that’s him, he shows very little at home and switches it on for the races.

“He’s run in the last three Gold Cups (but) has never had his ground at Cheltenham. Who knows, this year he might. Grade 1s are very hard to get so I’m absolutely thrilled for everyone at the yard. This ranks pretty high in my career; we’ve won a lot of nice races but this one is up there.”

THE two-mile Grade 2 novice hurdle which opened the card was won last year by Tahmuras in the Noel Fehily Racing colours and the syndicate was successful again when the Fergal O’Brien-trained Kamsinas (Paddy Brennan) - a 16/5 chance - got the better of a brief duel with Making Headway (Oliver Greenall & Josh Guerriero/Henry Brook) to win by a length and a quarter, with the pair coming right away from the others.

The Grade 1 Formby Novices’ Hurdle is next on the agenda for Kamsinas, and that race replaces the Tolworth at Sandown in the Jumps Pattern.

“I’ve got to clarify it with Noel and David Crosse from Noel Fehily Racing, but it seems the obvious route,” said O’Brien. “With the Tolworth being moved to Aintree and Aintree being pretty similar to Haydock, it should suit. The timing is right, so it’s the obvious place.”

THE Betfair Stayers Handicap Hurdle was fhd big handicap of the day proved another notable success for owner Paul Byrne as Slate Lane (Emmet Mullins/Donagh Myler) made all the running to beat Fine Margin (Willie Mullins/Brian Hayes) by a length and a half in the £125,000 contest, but the winner suffered a severe overreach in the process and is extremely unlikely to race again.

He had been most progressive since joining Mullins from Paul Hennessy, winning all four races over hurdles for current connections, all of them in the UK.

Ascot Saturday

FITTED with cheekpieces for his return to action, Shishkin (Nicky Henderson/Nico de Boinville) looked reluctant at the start of Ascot’s 1965 Chase, digging his toes in when the tapes went up and refusing to take any part. That left the Grade 2 contest at the mercy of Pic D’Orhy (Paul Nicholls/Harry Cobden), who overcame a rather mixed round of jumping to win by 16 lengths from Straw Fan Jack (Sheila Lewis/Sean Houlihan).

Pic d’Orhy and Minella Drama disputed the lead for much of the way, but the latter checked out fairly tamely on the home turn, and Straw Fan Jack briefly looked a danger at the penultimate fence before the winner pulled away.

Given the bloodless nature of the win for Pic d’Orhy, all the attention after the event was on the disgraced Shishkin, and Nicky Henderson was inclined to blame the positioning of the start, while sounding a warning about the configuration of Kempton where the gelding is due to take in the King George next month. Initially, the Seven Barrows handler was uncertain where he could send Shishkin for a prep, but he has since decided to give the nine-year-old an outing in the Rehearsal Chase at Newcastle today.

“It’s one of those starts where you are going away from home,” said a bemused Henderson. “And the odd horse will do it. My biggest concern would be the King George start would be exactly the same, but I can guarantee if I took him down to the two-mile start here, he would fly up. He would be in the lead.

“He jumps off every day, every day, every day. He’s a quirky character at times, but he will always jump off. He will never turn his head, never. He was in a mood today and he wasn’t for moving. If this was ever to be repeated, then Kempton isn’t the place to try it.”

BLUEKING D’Oroux (Paul Nicholls/Harry Cobden) stepped up successfully in class to beat his elders in the Grade 2 Coral Hurdle (formerly the Ascot Hurdle), having won against fellow four-year-olds in the Masterson Holdings Hurdle at Cheltenham last month.

His win gave Nicholls, Cobden, and owner Johnny de la Hey a double in the day’s Graded races at the track, ample reward for Cobden having had to forego the ride on Bravemansgame at Haydock. Trainer and jockey went on to complete a four-timer on the card.

Sent off at 4/1 in a field of five, Blueking D’Oroux was given a patient ride before Cobden asked for an effort in the straight, and the son of exciting sire Jeu St Eloi responded willingly to pass Strong Leader (Olly Murphy/Sean Bowen) after the last for a length victory.

Race favourite Theatre Glory was three lengths further back in third, with Goshen well held in fourth having been market leader when betting opened on the contest. That gelding has plenty to prove now having also flopped in the Cesarewitch when well supported.

This wasn’t the deepest race at the level, but the winner has improved with each start since wind surgery last winter and connections are dreaming of the Stayers’ Hurdle in March.

“It wasn’t the strongest ever renewal of this race,” said the winning jockey in the absence of the trainer. “And when Paul Nicholls lays one out for a race, he doesn’t normally miss.

“I was always going half a stride faster than I wanted to be, but I think that was down to the ground. He feels to me like the further he goes the better he is. I was just delighted with the horse, and once he got there, he toughed it out well.

“I’ve just been speaking to Johnny, and is it the boldest statement in the world to have a crack at the Stayers’ Hurdle? It probably isn’t the strongest division we have ever seen and he’s kept impressing us every run. I’m not saying he’s going to go there and set the world alight, but you have got to go somewhere, and I like the way he goes about the job.”