Lingo speaks Champion language
Lingo emerged as a potential Smurfit Champion Hurdle contender after making a brilliant return to the racecourse on the final day of the Open meeting at Cheltenham.
A disappointing campaign last season saw Jonjo O’Neill’s team ravaged by a mystery virus within his state-of-the-art Jackdaws Castle training complex.
But the trainer and his landlord JP McManus were all smiles in the winner’s enclosure after Lingo, making his first appearance on a racecourse for 680 days, ran out an impressive winner of the most competitive two-mile handicap hurdle to date this season.
With bookmakers slashing Lingo’s odds for the Festival showpiece, O’Neill was asked about the six-year-old’s prospects for that contest, although he was eager to keep his feet on the ground.
“He jumped well, travelled well and did everything right really. I’m very pleased with the way he did the job,” O’Neill said.
“It was impressive but he only had 10st 6lb today. He is a 140 horse and you need to be 165-plus to win the Champion so there’s a long way to go.
“He should come on for the run but I’m just pleased to get him back today.”
The 5-1 shot came smoothly through the pack under Tony McCoy to lead between the last two flights and kept on strongly up the hill to win by three and a half lengths from the fast-finishing Tramantano.
The stable had initiated a double in equally-forthright fashion when Black Jack Ketchum maintained his unbeaten record when marking himself out as a rising star in the Gideon Kasler Novices’ Hurdle.
Perhaps significantly another member of the O’Neill team to bypass the whole of last season, the six-year-old claimed some notable scalps in one of the hottest novice hurdles of the campaign so far, with McCoy having to do very little as the 13-2 chance pulled his way to the front approaching the second-last.
“He is probably my best novice and that looked a very good race on paper,” said O’Neill.
A year on from Accordion Etoile taking the Greatwood, he emerged as clear favourite for the two-mile novices’ crown after getting the best of a thrilling finish for the Independent Newspaper Novices’ Chase.
In a race that often brings the best of the early-season pretenders together, an Irish-dominated crowd backed the winner down to 5-2 favouritism before the off.
Trainer Paul Nolan said: “He is a very classy horse and I think there is plenty of improvement to come, particularly when the stable start to find their form a bit because things haven’t been too good recently.
“More than likely he’ll have a break now and we’ll look to bring him back in January somewhere.”
Cashmans are best-priced about Accordion Etoile’s prospects in next March’s Arkle Trophy, offering 7-1, while VCBet, Ladbrokes and Totesport go 6-1.
Bannow Strand (11-8 favourite) may have failed to deliver over hurdles for Martin Pipe last term but he proved chasing is his game when routing his rivals in the Jersey Handicap Chase.
Hordago showed his liking for Cheltenham’s stiff finish as he repeated a course-and-distance success from 12 months ago when taking the paddypowerpoker.com Hurdle.
Leading Contender (15-8) rounded off the three-day meeting with a game success in the closing Listed Festival Of Food Bumper for Philip Hobbs and Richard Johnson.
