Mighty revenge for Fitzgerald
Mick Fitzgerald gained sweet revenge over the final fence at Newbury today when Mighty Strong laid the ghost of a horrible fall 12 months ago in the Lane Fox Chase.
Having looked to have the race in the bag last year, the Nicky Henderson-trained gelding came down when clear and failed to get his head in front for the remainder of the season.
But everything was put right when Mighty Strong survived a monumental first-fence blunder to hand out a firm beating to his rivals, who were headed home by Wagner.
Owned jointly by Henderson’s father John and sister Josie, the trainer admitted he had felt some pressure to secure the desired result.
And Fitzgerald was equally pleased to erase the memory of a fall which kept him out of the saddle for several days.
“He was a bit free going to the first but I think he frightened himself a bit and he was perfect after that,” said the winning rider.
Henderson welcomed the forecast rain at Cheltenham for the weekend’s prestigious Paddy Power Open meeting and mentioned Fondmort, Tysou and Calling Brave among his intended representatives.
Martin St Quinton’s exchange programme proved a great success as one of his most gifted but frustrating performers showed the benefits of a change in surroundings.
Monkerhostin made a winning start on his first outing for Philip Hobbs in the Lane Fox Handicap Hurdle.
Owner St Quinton switched the gelding to Hobbs’ yard after a frustrating season with Oliver Sherwood when the six-year-old repeatedly offered more than he actually delivered.
In return, Sherwood received the former Hobbs-trained Surprising – who also won on his debut for new connections at Carlisle 10 days ago.
And the success of the decision to switch was completed when Monkerhostin, given a more aggressive ride than usual by Richard Johnson, kept Pepe Galvez at bay all the way up the run-in to win by half a length.
“I knew he was potentially well-treated and I remember him running in the Tote Gold Trophy when he was fifth as we had In Contrast, who was fourth, and I remember them both coming from a mile back,” said Hobbs.
Trainer and jockey completed a double when Parsons Legacy took the skybet.com Novices’ Hurdle.
Mark Pitman continues to put his torrid 2002/3 season further behind him and moved on to the 11-winner mark for the current campaign – with a winning strike rate of over 30 per cent – as Goodtime George took the Unicoin Homes Novices’ Chase.
The son of Strong Gale, a talented hurdler but hard to get right recently, jumped fluently throughout and showed considerable determination under Timmy Murphy to defeat Gielgud.
“This is the result of an unbelievably good team effort on a 10-year-old novice who has had all sorts of problems,” said Pitman.
“He has had all sorts of things go wrong. Last year, like a lot of my horses, I was never quite happy with him which is why he only ran once.
“But he has massage every day and slowly he has come back to form and it is incredibly satisfying to see him win again.”
The Tall Guy turned in a fine round of jumping to take the opening skybetvegas.com Novices’ Handicap Chase.
However, it was a race which jockey David Dennis will not want to remember.
Riding the runner-up Lodestar, he was involved in a tussle on the run-in with the winner when his mount almost ducked out to his left at the intersection post which marks out the water jump.
That handed the initiative to The Tall Guy, the 2-1 favourite, who held on to score by half a length.
“His claim to fame is that he once beat Intersky Falcon in a bumper, but he is a very big horse and like a lot of them he has had some wind problems,” said winning trainer Nigel Twiston-Davies.
“But he jumps very well and hopefully he can go on from here.”
Champion team of trainer Martin Pipe and jockey Tony McCoy struck at unusually rewarding odds in the CiSTM Juvenile Novices’ Hurdle when Lough Derg made a winning bow at 9-2.
The French-bred gelding was easy in the betting but came home a clear-cut winner after his closest pursuer – the weakening pacesetter Valance – crashed out at the final flight.
“I went down to see Martin for 10 minutes the other day and ended up staying for five hours and buying this horse,” said Lough Derg’s owner William Frewen.
“I bought her as a birthday present for my mum, Eileen, who is 70 this week.
“I have developed a bit of a code with Martin. He usually tells me that they won’t win but today he said he thought he had ’a bit of a chance’ so I thought he might win.”
Paddy Power quote the winner at 20-1 for next year’s JCB Triumph Hurdle.
Pipe and McCoy were all the rage to strike again in the concluding CiSTM/EBF “Junior” Standard Open National Hunt Flat Race but Bajan Girl failed to justify the high expectations of the betting market.
The 8-11 favourite was all the rage but had nothing to give when challenged two furlongs out and faded to finish well in rear behind the Hughie Morrison-trained Secret Ploy, who gave Timmy Murphy a double.
