Highland trek pays off for Williams
The seven-year-old is a half-brother to 2000 Guineas and King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes hero Golan.
And while he will never reach those lofty heights, Highland Games confirmed himself a smart sort at this level when scoring by eight lengths under Paul Moloney as the well-supported 5-2 favourite.
Williams said: “I’m absolutely delighted – over the moon.
“It’s always nice to come to Sedgefield and I would have been very disappointed if we’d been turned over as his last run was so good.
“We learned a lot from that run as I think three miles in very soft ground at Chepstow just stretched him.
“Whoever bred him probably didn’t have Sedgefield in mind but it’ll do just fine for Evan Williams.”
Graham Lee also had a good day with a short-priced double aboard Surricate and Terlan.
The latter made up for a disappointing run over course and distance last time when proving too hot to handle in the Racecourse Video Services Novices’ Chase.
Peter Monteith’s nine-year-old was always travelling smoothly and galloped right away from the never-nearer Birdwatch to register an emphatic 17-length success – despite failing to convince with his fencing.
Of the 15-8 favourite, Monteith said: “Nothing came to light after his last run but we dropped him in then and maybe it just didn’t suit.
“He was in at Kelso later in the week but this race looked the easier option and it’s worked out well.
Surricate, sent off at odds of 8-13, got favourite backers off to the perfect start with a ready victory in the opening gg.com Mares’ Only Novices’ Hurdle.
Lee said of the Ferdy Murphy-trained five-year-old: “It was a real tough performance and she was due it as she’s been running very consistently in her last few races.”
Stamina unsurprisingly came to the fore in the three-mile-three-furlong Ramside Event Catering Handicap Chase, won by top weight It’s Definite.
Amber Light set a strong gallop but had nothing left to give when Tom O’Brien drove his mount to the front after the third-last fence.
Although he was virtually walking at the line, Peter Bowen’s charge had 14 lengths to spare over Uneven Line, who responded gamely under persistent pressure.
“He just stays very well and although he wasn’t in love with the going, he just kept galloping for me,” O’Brien said of the 4-1 winner.
David Thompson was relieved to hold on to improving six-year-old Nebraska City after he landed odds of 4-1 in the John Wade For Equine Fibre And Rubber Conditional Jockeys’ Selling Handicap Hurdle.
Despite winning by a ready six lengths in conditions that were against him, there was no bid for the winner in the subsequent auction.
“We’ll probably try him in a non-seller now and he might go chasing at the end of January or February as he’s schooled well at home,” revealed Thompson.
