Pyramid Place on his way to victory in the Silver Trophy Handicap Hurdle (JTW Equine Images)
By JTW Equine Images
Pyramid Place continued a steady run of form when taking the Wasdell Group Silver Trophy Handicap Hurdle at Chepstow, the feature race on Day 2 of their Jumps Season Opener.
Starting off at 20/1, the six year old stayed on gallantly to outstay well fancied rivals Blow Your Wad and Sonigino, battling readily to prize the victory away from them and streak away for the biggest success of the jockey’s career, and one that put him 4 clear in the conditional jockeys’ championship.
Sitting off the pace at the back of the field, the jockey had eased the horse into contention and struck at the last, powering clear to the satisfaction of connections.
“I’m delighted for him”, trainer Milton Harris was quoted as saying to the assembled media afterwards. “He’s a good team member”.
The jockey was equally delighted with his victory, but stated that his main aim in the conditional jockeys’ title.
Pyramid Place has been extremely busy in 2023, scoring 4 wins this year, including 2 at Cartmel and 1 at Wetherby. This victory would naturally be the icing on the cake of what has been a very busy year for them in which they have only finished worse than fifth once, a fine record for any horse in any regard.
The son of Authorized continues on the upgrade, and it will be interesting to see if connections decide to take on another major handicap hurdle in due course, with the Greatwood at Cheltenham’s November meeting only 6 weeks away.
That claim could come in handy, if Bradley would just stop winning.
It was a grey day at Chepstow, but the crisp autumnal air would betray any thoughts about it being about the weather, evoking any images of driving rain and howling gales.
Instead it was the horses who took the plaudits, in which 3 consecutive races all went to horses who were officially listed as grey.
Stolen Silver literally did steal the Native River Handicap Chase, in a manner of which the great horse himself would have been proud of, sprinting away from his rivals and scoring in superb fashion under a confident Sam Twiston-Davies for trainer Sam Thomas and owners Potter Group.
Having always looked something of a specialist at Cheltenham, the change of scenery and a step up in trip worked the trick as he left his rivals in his hoofprints after 2 out and drew right away to score by an eased down 6 lengths.
Post-Race, it was suggested by connections that he will receive an entry in the Coral Gold Cup at Newbury, which gives an idea on how well they regard this son of Lord Du Sud.
Trainer Sam Thomas was able to double up just over an hour later as the enigmatic and popular Al Dancer took the John Ayres Memorial Chase in fine style under Charlie Deutsch for owner Dai Walters.
In a race decimated by non-runners due to the going, the son of Al Namix took the chance presented to them with both front hooves and overhauled the long time leader Elixir De Nutz down the Chepstow home straight, powering clear to win eventually by 7 and a half lengths to Nocte Volatus.
The third piece of the puzzle was one that was one that came, as their name suggested but not entirely, unexpected. This one was the plan that winning trainer Dan Skelton had been planning for nearly 6 months.
The Robert Mottram Memorial Novices’ Chase was expected to be a chasing debut success for the Paul Nicholls trained Knappers Hill, however his former protégé hadn’t quite read the script. He had earmarked this contest for his own charge Unexpected Party, a horse who had been contesting the likes of the Henry VIII Novices Chase at Sandown Park and the Turners’ Novices’ Chase at the Cheltenham Festival, all without success.
Despite this, he had run very credible in those defeats, and the experience proved as despite the looming presence of Knappers Hill coming down the home straight, he was always keeping on, using his experience to great effect to jump with aplomb and score by just under 3 lengths.
Connections of the winner stated to the assembled media that he will receive an entry for both the Paddy Power Gold Cup and the Grade 2 over 2 miles at Cheltenham’s November meeting next month following his success today.
Of the vanquished runner up, trainer Paul Nicholls said he was “thrilled with him” and the performance, adding that because “he’s not a big horse” he seemed to be getting let down by the ground.
“It was too soft for him really”, he quoted afterwards to the media. “However if we are going to go to the Rising Stars in a months time he could have a bit of practice”.
“He jumped well today”.
“Harry ( Cobden, jockey ) was delighted with him really, to get a clear round was a win”.
“He will build on that enormously”.
Paul and the team had much better luck with the debutant Kap Boy, who took the concluding National Hunt Flat Race after a much toughed out battle with King Of Tara, with the pair pulling away from their rivals by 21 lengths.
Paul stated that the plan was going to be keeping the 160,000 Euro 4 year old son of Kapgarde over bumpers this season, with a look to hurdles next season.
“He’s a future chaser one day, so we will look after him”.
“McFabulous won this race a few years ago, Knappers Hill won it, it’s quite a good race to run in, so I won’t rush him”.
“He’s a big green horse that we don’t need to do much with at the moment, so it’s thrilling”.
“We’ve always liked him”.
Paul Nicholls’ former assistant trainer Harry Derham was amongst the winners when taking the Paul Ferguson Jumpers To Follow 4-Y-O Hurdle with he progressive and gutsy Shared, who would not accept defeat and always found more under Paul O’Brien, defeating favourite Jilaijone by just shy of 2 lengths.
The opening contest had gone to Balboa, who showed the most promise and form before the race, and duly capitalised on this and the inexperience of some of his rivals by taking the Champion Hats Juvenile Hurdle for trainer Milton Harris and jockey Harry Reed by 4 lengths.
Having finished second behind the progressive Max Of Stars in a Class 2 Juvenile Hurdle at Market Rasen 2 weeks ago, the drop in class and his experience paid dividends, with only the debutant Castelfort of Jane Williams’ yard able to go with him, the pair 17 lengths ahead of any of the other rivals.
Some exciting performances were seen on the Jumps Season Opener, and it whets the appetite for the winter ahead. All we can say is…. Where next?
