Birthday bonus for Morris as Lieutenant first at last
It was a deserved success for both trainer and horse, as Morris had a series of near-misses at Cheltenham and First Lieutenant had been banging his head against the best around all season.
Man-of-the-moment Bryan Cooper was standing in for Davy Russell, deemed not fit enough to ride in England by the British Horseracing Authority despite being in action in Ireland since puncturing a lung at Cheltenham.
Second to Cue Card in the Ryanair Chase, First Lieutenant (7-2) found the longer trip to his liking and wore down Menorah, with Silviniaco Conti third.
“He really deserved one,” said Morris, 62. “He’s got a big heart and he jumped super for Bryan, but I thought we were struggling turning in.
“He hasn’t run a bad race all season and was second in all the good handicaps and Grade Ones.
“I’m delighted for the horse and the team at home.
“It was a toss-up between running him in the Ryanair or the Gold Cup at Cheltenham. We went for the Ryanair and bumped into a very good Cue Card on the day. That’s the way it goes.
“I wouldn’t have thought he’d go to Punchestown, but we’ll see.”
L’Unique (10-1) turned the form of the Adonis Hurdle on its head by giving Alan King a fourth victory in the Matalan Anniversary 4-Y-O Juvenile Hurdle.
King said: “I think not running at Cheltenham probably helped her and she seems to go on any ground.”
Colin Tizzard’s veteran Oiseau De Nuit (20-1) provided young jockey Brendan Powell with an Aintree winner to follow up his Cheltenham success in the matalan.co.uk Red Rum Handicap Chase.
Powell later took the Silver Cross Handicap Hurdle on Kevin Bishop’s 8-1 co-favourite Battle Group, who won the corresponding race two years ago when in the care of David Pipe.
A spring-heeled display of jumping secured the spoils for Captain Conan (6-5 favourite) as he pulled away up the straight to win the Betfred Manifesto Novices’ Chase, his third Grade One win of the season.
Battlefront was a fatality during the John Smith’s Fox Hunters’ Chase.
The race, over two miles and five furlongs of the National course, saw 14 finishers and was won by 100-1 shot Tartan Snow.
Leading fancy Battlefront, an 11-year-old trained by Ted Walsh and ridden by his daughter, Katie, was in the front rank for a long way before being pulled up at the 11th fence.
