Saturday: Newbury
When Tom Lacey said before the Betfair Hurdle the race was Glory And Fortune’s “prep run before he deflowers Honeysuckle at Cheltenham” bookmakers assumed it was tongue in cheek, but the seven-year-old was cut across the board to do just that after holding off the fast-charging I Like To Move It to land the most valuable handicap hurdle in Britain.
Click here to watch a storming finish to the Betfair Hurdle
For much of the home straight Glory And Fortune, who was last seen chasing home Epatante in the Christmas Hurdle, looked for all the world the winner. But a mistake at the last opened the door for the fast-finishing and hotly touted novice I Like To Move It.
Getting 5lb and on the charge, I Like To Move It pulled alongside under an all-action ride from Sam Twiston-Davies and shortly after the line he was in front.
But it is on the line that counts and the photo-finish revealed that there it was Glory And Fortune who was in front. There was just a short-head between first and second – and also £54,358.50.
For jockey Stan Sheppard, who has also won the Welsh Grand National this season, there was just one word for it – “unreal”.
Sheppard, it transpired, had total confidence in his mount. He said: “I’ll be honest, I was looking through the race and I couldn’t for the life of me work out why he was the price he was.
“Soaring Glory was 6-1 and we beat him at levels in the Christmas Hurdle and we were getting weight off him today. It’s just brilliant, I was pretty confident beforehand but I’m glad I got this one right.
“Novices can come into it well handicapped, he ran in this last year off 12lb lower so he’s obviously improved throughout the year. It’s brilliant.”
Lacey said: “He was a big price so I didn’t feel too much pressure. It’s lovely to come to a big handicap like that and not feel any pressure. He’s got over his wind issues and grown in confidence and improved, and we’ve learned a lot about him.
“We stopped working him, he does enough on his own without us forcing him to do his work once or twice a week and it’s paid dividends.”
Glory And Fortune can still be backed at 50-1 to upset Honeysuckle and co next month but Lacey is up for the challenge. He said: “We won’t shirk from that, I’m looking forward to it. He’s had his setbacks through no fault of his own but he’s been with me since he was three and he’s been a good fun horse.”
Nigel Twiston-Davies, trainer of I Like To Move It, was philosophical in defeat. He said: “He would have won that with a Cheltenham hill – and he’ll be off to Cheltenham for the novice hurdle now.”
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fonte : RacingPost
