Leader Skelton opens racecourse Coronation Club
WARWICK Racecourse ambassador Dan Skelton extended his lead at the top of this season’s trainers’ championship when landing the first two races at Warwick’s Racing UK Grand Season Opener on Tuesday, writes David Hucker.
After cutting the ribbon on the course’s new Coronation Club lounge Skelton, who has been leading trainer at Warwick for the last two years, sharing top billing with Nigel Twiston-Davies on eight winners apiece in 2016/17, made the best possible start to the day when Blairs Cove, ridden by his brother Harry, took the opening All New racinguk.com Novices’ Hurdle over two miles.
Sent off the 8-13 favourite, he struck the front at the penultimate flight and ran on well to hold off Sword Of Fate, who looks a winner in waiting when he gets to race over a longer trip.
Skelton has headed the trainers’ table from the very first day of the 2017/18 national jumps season and Blairs Cove was his 67th winner, achieved at a strike rate of 28 per cent.
He has saddled 90 individual horses, a sign of just how big an operation he now runs at his Shelfield Green base, and he didn’t take long to increase his tally as Pretty Reckless came fast and late to deny Bally Lagan in the following Happy 60th Macca Handicap Chase.
There had been plenty of support for hat-trick seeking Dotties Dilema, who was held up by Sean Bowen, being last of the runners going down the back straight with seven fences to jump.
Making steady progress, he had every chance turning for home, but found nothing when asked to challenge, finishing out of the frame. Up front, the Robin Dickin trained Bally Lagan looked all over the winner when jumping the last, only for Pretty Reckless to find another gear and score by half a length.
The trip was three and a quarter miles for the longest race of the afternoon, the Paul Ferguson’s Jumpers To Follow Handicap Hurdle, and Premier Rose was odds-on favourite to make it three on the bounce for the Skeltons.
In a race full of incident, she couldn’t quite pull it off, finishing third behind Guerrilla Tactics and Lord Topper.
It looked as if Shantou Tiger, who had set a good pace from the off, would make all the running, but he parted company with amateur Theo Gillard on the home bend and then cannoned into Guerrilla Tactics at the second-last flight, seemingly putting paid to his chances.
But, Nick Scholfield gathered his mount up for another effort and got up on the run-in for a deserved victory, beating top-weight Lord Topper by a length with the one-paced favourite a further neck away.
Over Norton trainer Charlie Longsdon and jockey Jonathan Burke have been in cracking form of late, having scored with their last three runners, and they were hoping to continue the run with Kilfinichen Bay, who was going for a repeat win in the feature £12,000 Weatherbys Racing Diaries Handicap Chase.
But, held up, Kilfinichen Bay was struggling from four fences out as Sonneofpresenting and David Bass jumped boldly in front, only to be caught and passed on the run-in by market leader Belmount, ridden by Sam Twiston-Davies for his father Nigel.
There was a wide-open betting market for the Bet At racinguk.com Mares’ Handicap Hurdle over two miles and three furlongs and it was course winner Rebel Yeats, who had opened her account when winning at 50-1 at the course in May, who came out on top, just the getting the better of Fool To Cry by half a length to give jockey Ed Austin his first career winner.
After running a good third at Southwell on his first outing of the season, Strongly Suggested hadn’t shown the same form in four subsequent starts, but he was always travelling and jumping well on the inside for Aidan Coleman in the concluding Watch Racing UK In Stunning HD Interactive Handicap Chase, coming clear of Cloudy Bob from the last fence to score at 12-1.
