‘We never expected anything like this’

IN a year which has produced surprise after surprise in the elite hurdling division, the unheralded 20/1 shot Silent Oscar did it again yesterday when winning the ACC Bank Champion Hurdle against much more vaunted rivals.

John Carr’s Sublimity had done it at Cheltenham, but yesterday it was the turn of Harry Rogers’ eight-year-old, and even the trainer confessed to being taken aback by the level of performance Silent Oscar produced under a fantastic ride from Grand National hero Robbie Power to beat 7/4 favourite Macs Joy.

He wasn’t the only one, as the weight of punters’ money decreed there were only four runners in the eight horse contest. Macs Joy, Iktitaf, Hardy Eustace and Harchibald were the only horses with any degree of support in the field, with Callow Lake, Sweet Wake, Strangely Brown and Silent Oscar largely unfancied in the betting ring.