Moore all smiles after Hero triumphs
Adopted Hero put himself firmly in the picture for the JCB Triumph Hurdle with a stylish success in the Chatteris Fen Juvenile Novices’ Hurdle at Huntingdon yesterday.
At 120,000 guineas (€177,000), the four-year-old gelding is the most expensive horse ever to be trained by Brighton handler Gary Moore.
Victor Chandler cut the winner’s price for next month’s juvenile championship from 25-1 to 16-1 after the race, although Coral remain 20s.
But Moore reported that he would only run at Cheltenham if conditions were suitable.
“To be honest, he was probably about 10 days short today because he has had a touch of sickness, but he had to run today because we needed to get him qualified for the Triumph and where better to do it than in a £15,000 (€22,000) race?
“He has done what we expected today and if the ground came up soft we might be tempted to give it a go, although we could wait for Aintree.
“We have also got Zimbabwe for the same races. He will probably go for the Adonis at Kempton and we will see where we stand with him.”
It is a case of so far, so good for connections as Moore’s son Jamie brought the 8-11 winner home to score with the minimum of effort on just his second start over hurdles.
A smart stayer on the Flat, it was his regular jockey Jimmy Fortune who recommended the horse to Moore when sent to the sales by his former connections.
“He said that he thought he was a very good horse, and then someone else confirmed it to me, so we decided to have a go,” said Moore.
“We did pay a bit more than we were hoping for him but he hasn’t done anything wrong so far. He is owned by two loyal guys, Phil Collins and Norman Jones, who have had horses with me for a long time.”
Always travelling sweetly, Adopted Hero came through to dispute the lead approaching the final flight and Moore jnr only had shake the reins at his mount to get him to edge clear from dual winner Chief Yeoman.
Trainer Nick Gifford continued the renaissance of his Sussex stable as Mulligatawny took the Tote Bookmakers Novices’ Handicap Chase under James Davies.
Gifford’s team was struck down with a virus at the start of the season but the tide has turned in recent weeks and this was another winner after the success on Saturday of Narwhal.
“You just have to be patient and you can’t get more patient owners than these,” said the winning handler.
“I like to bring novice chasers to a track like this where you always get reasonable ground and there are no particularly tricky fences.
“I just hope he can go on from this because in the last couple of seasons he has struggled to keep his form.”
