Wetherby Saturday

GENTLEMANSGAME (Mouse Morris/Darragh O’Keeffe) caused a bit of a stir when beating King George winner Bravemansgame (Paul Nicholls/Harry Cobden) in the Grade 2 bet365 Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby on Saturday.

Having just his third run over fences, Gentlemansgame had fitness on his side after finishing second to Easy Game in the PWC Champion Chase at Gowran in September and was backed into an SP of 7/2 against three rivals who were all running for the first time this season.

Ahoy Senor set out to make all and jumped fine in the early stages, unlike last year, but mistakes are always likely with him, and after belting the ninth, he conceded the lead and gradually weakened.

That left Gentlemansgame tracking Bravemansgame, and while the latter appeared to travel the better, O’Keeffe kept his mount close enough to harry the leader, and a mistake at the last from Bravemansgame allowed him to throw down a strong challenge on the flat and it took him clear to win by a length and three-quarters.

Morris said: “I’m very happy with that, he jumped super. He was a bit fiddly at one or two, but that was to be expected on his third run over fences. He was taking on a seasoned, Gold Cup horse.

“We came here because I was limited as to where I could go. The owners had their other horse [Gerri Colombe] going to Down Royal and it would be stupid to take each other on.

“It’s a long way to the Gold Cup. I suppose Leopardstown at Christmas would be the obvious place to go, but we’ll see how he comes out of it. He’ll stay all day and we’re living the dream.”

BOTOX Has (Gary Moore/Caoilin Quinn) provided a minor surprise in the Grade 2 West Yorkshire Hurdle when staying on best in testing conditions to beat Red Risk (Paul Nicholls/Harry Cobden) and Dashel Drasher (Jeremy Scott/Rex Dingle) by a length and four and three quarter-lengths.

Thyme Hill, joint-favourite with Dashel Drasher, could never get competitive and finished fourth.

Sent off at 15/2, Botox Has tracked long-time leader Dashel Drasher and went on after that rival made a rare jumping lapse at the penultimate flight. Red Risk travelled up well having charted a wide course in search of better ground but found the winner too tough.

This was a first graded win for conditional rider Caoilin Quinn, who was also on board when Botox Has landed the Betfair Exchange Handicap Hurdle at Haydock last November.

The winner was behind Dashel Drasher in the Cleeve Hurdle at Cheltenham in January when last seen, but he could not be faulted for fitness and coped best with what were very difficult conditions on the hurdles’ track.

Mares’ Hurdle

The listed mares’ hurdle saw a clash of three of last season’s leading novices in the domestic division, and Dawn Run Novices Hurdle winner Shewearsitwell (Jamie Snowden/Gavin Sheehan) confirmed that Cheltenham Festival form with Luccia (Nicky Henderson/Nico de Boinville) to beat that rival by three lengths.

She was also reversing form from Aintree with Kateira, who was 19 lengths back in third, proving that she didn’t do herself justice there.

Despite being only 1lb worse off with the runner-up for a near five-length beating in March, she was allowed to go off second favourite at 2/1. Both mares were clumsy at the last, but Shewearsitwell recovered better to score decisively.

Newmarket Saturday

AS mentioned before, it’s been a slow season for the Gosden juveniles on turf, but there are signs that many of those not rushed early will fulfil their potential down the line, and another to take the eye was Orne (Rab Havlin), who showed improved form to land the Group 3 Horris Hill Stakes – transferred from Newbury – with a likeable front-running display.

The son of Acclamation was beaten over 10 lengths when fourth to Ancient Wisdom in the Autumn Stakes on his previous start, but he looked a better performer switched to forcing tactics over a furlong shorter, and produced a 10/1 surprise, beating Witness Stand (Tom Clover/Danny Tudhope) and Son Of Man (Jane Chapple-Hyam/David Egan) by a length and a quarter and three-quarters of a length.

There were two listed races on Newmarket’s bumper final card of the season, with Checkandchallenge (William Knight/Callum Shepherd) beating Pride Of America by a neck in the James Seymour Stakes, and in doing so proving that 10 furlongs on testing ground suits him well.

The Montrose Fillies’ Stakes over a mile went the way of Regal Jubilee (Kieran Shoemark) who provided John and Thady Gosden with a blacktype double on the day, beating Joseph O’Brien’s Je Zous (Sean Levey).

The daughter of Frankel won by a comfortable two lengths and may next be seen in an Oaks trial in the spring.

Ascot Saturday

THE Byrne Group Chase saw prize money of £100,000 on offer and it produced a strong contest which was won by 7/2 favourite Boothill (Harry Fry/Jonathan Burke), who jumped well to score by four lengths from First Flow (Kim Bailey/David Bass).

The eight-year-old was pretty fresh on his first start of the season, but was held in check by Burke, and a big jump at the final fence gave him a second valuable Ascot handicap having also won the Hurst Park Handicap Chase last November.

Harry Fry mentioned that race as his aim again, but a 6lb rise for this win means he will have to consider options in graded company for Boothill.

The Sodexho Gold Cup was the second big handicap on Ascot’s card, and followers of Venetia Williams were in clover when Victtorino returned from an absence to take the £100,000 contest under Charlie Deutsch.

An unexposed five-year-old, Victtorino was a winner over two and three-quarter miles at Auteuil for Daniela Mele but was trying three miles and British fences for the first time here.

He jumped and travelled well on the whole, however, and looked set to score comfortably until a slow leap at the last fence, but he recovered well to go on and beat Two For Gold (Kim Bailey/David Bass) by six lengths, with Eldorado Allen (Joe Tizzard/Freddie Gingell) a creditable third having made much of the running.

DENIS O’Regan made headlines at Hereford on Monday, with victory aboard Fiveonefive in the two-mile novice hurdle for Cian Collins giving him the accolade of riding a winner on all UK and Irish jumps courses.

O’Regan had already completed that task once, but the re-opening of Hereford a few years ago left a gap on his CV which he’s been itching to fill ever since.