THIRD TIME LUCKI only needed the one go to show what he’s capable of over fences.
Dan Skelton’s novice stole the show on the track, taking to the bigger obstacles like a duck to water.
Jockey Harry Skelton kicked on at halfway and the race was as good as over. A few more electric jumps and the pair eased down to an eight length victory in the squareintheair.co.uk Novice Chase.
Quotes of 20-1 for the Arkle were brushed aside by his trainer who thinks he’ll be back at Cheltenham for their November meeting.
His handler said: “We’ve always considered him one of our best horses and last year was just so frustrating.
“We should have won a big race with him but it meant we got plenty of experience into him and that should benefit us this year.
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“I’m chuffed to bits with that. His jumping at home had been great and we’d always been trying to turn him into a serious chaser.
“We’ll come here again next time for the Grade 2 Novices’ Chase so long as it’s not properly soft. Then it’ll be Sandown for the Henry VII and ultimately we hope he’ll be back here for the Arkle.
“But look, you can look silly building up these horses now. He has to go and do it and that’s on me.
“We’ve got every right to believe in him now. He’s an out and out two-miler – the faster they go, the better.”
The anticipated Cheltenham roar was more of a murmur as the field went off for the opener in front of the first meaningful crowd since the 2019 Festival.
But you can forgive the 12,000-strong audience given they were served up a three-runner contest with a 1-3 favourite.
Camprond got the job done despite a brief scare turning in to continue trainer Philip Hobbs’ fine start to the season.
The Persian War winner loses his novice status now and Hobbs will have to find him a handicap.
He said: “He can go to Ireland for a novice but here it’ll be a lot tougher now. He’s never jumped a fence before but that might be an option, too.”
The Irish banged in their customary winner at Prestbury Park thanks to the well-backed Bardenstown Lad in the three-mile novice hurdle.
Trainer John McConnell always targets this meeting and won this very race last year. Clearly the punters spotted it too.
Thankfully for the Brits there were no Irish raiders in the 888Sport Novices’ Limited Handicap.
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Chris Gordon might have a gem up his sleeve in the slick Annual Invictus who jumped like a stag on his maiden spin over fences.
Straight-speaking Gordon was over the moon, notching only his third ever winner at the track.
He said: “This is what it’s all about isn’t it? He’s owned by my blacksmith and we’ve had a proper day up in the box, looking out over the course and cheering him on.
“The horse is one we’ve always thought a lot of, he jumped really, really well there.
“He’ll want it a lot softer too so we can be even happier. He’s got some smart form over hurdles but we always knew it’d be chasing.
“That was only a handicap but he’s beaten some good horses there. We don’t want to put anything in stone now as he has lots of options, but we’d have to think of finding a graded race.”
The Christian Williams-trained Strictlyadancer was an apt winner of the Andy Stewart Memorial Chase.
Williams was once down to ride the legendary Big Buck’s, who ran in the famous Stewart colours but the pair were withdrawn in extraordinary circumstances.
Williams said: “I was down to ride Big Buck’s at Warwick but I’d broken my leg in five places and couldn’t get my foot in the irons!
“We tried for about 20 minutes and the race was delayed but eventually they said no. It’s great to win this race in Andy’s memory, I rode a good few winners for him.”
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