O'Neill pointing Lingo at Novice target

Lingo went to the head of the market for the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival after winning the feature race at Sandown Park yesterday.

Jonjo O’Neill’s five-year-old had been talked of as a live outsider for the Smurfit Champion Hurdle in the lead-up to the race, but the trainer was quick to put matters straight.

“I don’t know who has been saying all this about the Champion Hurdle. He will go the novice route, for sure,” he said. “He jumped well and travelled well - he is a good traveller.”

Lingo certainly did enough in outpointing Garde Champetre in the ladbrokes.com Tolworth Hurdle to suggest he will prove a tough nut to crack in the novice ranks this season.

Coral, Paddy Power and Cashmans now all make him the 7-1 favourite for the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle, with O’Neill having strong contenders for the Champion in the form of Rhinestone Cowboy and Intersky Falcon.

Liam Cooper was able to use the winner’s high cruising speed to good advantage as Perle De Puce set a testing gallop for most of the way.

The Nicky Henderson-trained mare was still battling it out for the lead with Lingo and Garde Champetre when she hit the final flight and crashed to the ground.

Lingo appeared to idle slightly when hitting the front on the run-in, but Cooper kept him up to his work all the way to the line to hold off Garde Champetre by a length and a half.

“He kept on all the way and although he might have preferred a faster pace, he has done it nicely in the end,” said the winning rider.

Another satisfied man was Paul Nicholls, the trainer of Garde Champetre, who stuck on well up the run-in despite being unfancied in the betting ring at 14-1.

“He gallops, he stays and he’ll keep improving. I wouldn’t be afraid to take the winner on again in a month’s time,” said Nicholls.

But Alan King admitted to being disappointed after Bourbon Manhattan flattened out badly to finish well beaten in third.

Having travelled sweetly upsides Lingo for the best part of a mile and a half, he found less than his rivals when push came to shove and was already held when slightly hampered by Perle De Puce at the last.

“I think he’s better than that but on the day we were just beaten by better horses,” said King. “It is disappointing because it’s hard to know what the problem is.”

It was an up-and-down afternoon for Lingo’s trainer, typifying the difficulties he is experiencing, with some of his string suffering from a flu bug.

His other two runners flopped as well-fancied Feel The Pride was pulled up lame in the mares’ handicap hurdle won by Kadara and then Ballylusky ran awkwardly throughout in the three-mile ladbrokes.com Chase, which went to Over The Storm.

The Henrietta Knight-trained 8-1 shot rallied gamely to defeat Jimmy Tennis by two and a half lengths.

“He is so honest – he just jumps and gallops,” said Miss Knight. “We got a bit muddled with him last year. We went for the National Hunt Chase at the Festival but he didn’t like it and he went backwards.

“But he jumps beautifully, and we will look for another long-distance chase for him because he stays so well.”

Kadara had also put her stamina into use to win the ladbrokespoker.com Mares’ Only Handicap Hurdle.

Andrew Thornton’s mount looked set for third place at best over the second-last flight.

But Robert Alner’s decision to drop Kadara back from three miles to two paid off in style as she picked up ground steadily in the home straight to lead on the run-in.

“She is owned by Jim Kelly, who had Kates Charm with me, and I think he has got another one as good here,” said Alner.

“I was hoping for rain but when the frost starts to come out, it can make the ground pretty testing, and that is what happened here.

“She is beautifully-bred by the Aga Khan, but she will jump a fence when the time comes and I like her a lot.”

St Pirran put a host of training problems behind him as he took the ladbrokescasino.com Handicap Chase under Ruby Walsh.

The Paul Nicholls-trained 7-2 chance travelled well but looked in trouble when seemingly blowing up before the second-last fence.

However, Walsh got to work on the winner, who stayed on again to join leader Wahiba Sands at the last before going clear on the run-in to win by three and a half lengths.

Nicholls revealed that the last two years had been hard going for the formerly useful novice.

“He has had everything really,” Nicholls said. “He did a leg and had that fired, and had breathing problems and a soft palate operation.

“Then we got him back at Bangor last time, where he came back with a cut leg and had to have three weeks of box-rest.

“After that, I thought he would need it again today, so I wasn’t too hopeful.

“His owner, Graham Roach, is on holiday in Antigua at the moment and asked me not to run him until he returned.

“But I faxed him last night and said if we ran this weekend he would be spot-on for a race when he got back!”

Calling Brave got the better of a good tussle for the opening Ladbrokes On Attheraces Press Red To Bet Novices’ Chase.

The smart hurdler was stepping up in grade after making a winning start over fences at Folkestone last month.

But although he had to dig deep to see off the persistent challenge from Patricksnineteenth, Mick Fitzgerald’s mount always seemed to be doing just enough and scored by three-quarters of a length at 5-6.

The Royal & SunAlliance Chase at the Cheltenham Festival in March is the likeliest long-term aim for Calling Brave, according to Nicky Henderson.

“He jumped well in the main and he is learning all the time,” he said.

“He really wants soft ground and three miles, neither of which he had today, so I am pleased enough.”

Coral kept the winner’s price unchanged at 25-1 for the SunAlliance, although Victor Chandler trimmed him from 25-1 into 16-1.

If punters got off to a good start, they went home having given it all back when Dickens sprung a 66-1 shock in the closing Ladbrokes Freephone 0808 1000 421 Juvenile Novices’ Hurdle.

Trainer Venetia Williams admitted to being surprised by the success, saying: “I’m not a punter, but even if I was, I don’t think I could have backed him after the way he had run before.

“I can only assume that the fast pace and testing ground played into his hands because he shapes like a stayer. That is where his future will lie.”