Culloty steers Prince to family triumph
The triple Cheltenham Gold Cup-winning jockey took the reins for the first time aboard the 13-year-old, who was bought by his wife, Susie, for her to ride in hunter chases last season.
Due to give birth in five weeks’ time to their first child, Susie was forced to hand the Henrietta Knight-trained gelding over to professional handling this season.
But with Mrs Culloty urging her husband to make sure that Rathbawn Prince returned home safe and sound, the horse turned in a fluent round of jumping before finding more than joint-favourite Roschal in the final stages to score by four lengths.
“Susie said that rather than selling him, she would rather he stayed in the yard so that Jim could ride him this season,” explained the winning trainer.
“But because he was injured and then banned this is actually the first time that he has been able to get on him.
“A few seasons ago he was a pretty decent sort of horse for Dessie Hughes. He used to want good ground but as happens with a lot of these older horses, he seems to prefer a bit of give now as he likes to look after his legs a bit.”
Knight said that she was particularly pleased to win the race named after her “great friend and mentor”, Tim Forster.
“He taught me so much about training, not least to always be pessimistic,” she smiled.
Meanwhile, Paul Nicholls and Ruby Walsh stole the show at Uttoxeter on Saturday when posting a near 10-1 treble, highlighted by the success of My Will in the Betfred Novices’ Chase.
My Will is in line for big targets at the Cheltenham and Aintree Festivals, according to his owner Andy Stewart, who represented the trainer who preferred go to his local track, Wincanton.
But the presence of Walsh convinced the Uttoxeter crowd that the Nicholls stable would have a good day and My Will was a well-backed 11-4 joint-favourite in this Grade Two contest, transferred from Ascot.
Stewart is uncertain which race will be My Will’s target at Cheltenham, although he is leaning towards the new Daily Telegraph Chase over two miles and five furlongs.
“He’s entered for the Arkle but I think the Daily Telegraph race looks interesting and if we go to Cheltenham I imagine that will probably be his race,” he said.
The Nicholls-Walsh combination sparked their treble when Blushing Bull landed the Betfred “The Bonus King” EBF “National Hunt” Novices’ Hurdle, although supporters of the 30-100 winner had to sweat when he was pressed by In Accord over the last two flights.
Walsh had enough in reserve to sneak home by a neck and Daniel Skelton, representing Nicholls, said: “He wasn’t right after he was beaten at Chepstow and the fact that the race developed into a bit of a sprint didn’t help.
“The main thing is that he’s won and Ruby says he will carry on improving.”
Le Passing (6-5) proved the smoothest of the three winners when landing the Betfred 480 Shops Nationwide Handicap Chase by six lengths from The Villager.
The testing conditions suited the 6-5 favourite and Skelton said: “Ruby has been supreme today and this horse will go on to win more races. These fences take a bit of jumping but he was very tidy and he couldn’t have been more impressive in his first run in a handicap.”
