McCourt and Morgan support pays off

Former jump jockeys Graham McCourt and Tom Morgan are using their expertise to help Cheltenham trainer Dave Wintle, and their work reaped dividends with a 51-1 double at Leicester.

The two ex-riders were on hand to witness Wintle’s pair of Seveneightsix (11-2) and Lord Lington (7-1) land the spoils at the East Midlands track.

“Myself and Tom have been trying to get Dave some horses and the best way to advertise is to get winners,” said McCourt, an ex-trainer himself.

Lord Lington put up a good performance on his debut over fences in winning the ladbrokes.com Novices’ Chase.

Allumee looked like landing the odds when entering the straight with a clear lead but Lord Lington bore down on him at the second last before going on for a six-length success under Warren Marston.

“We have to face the music now. The handicappers are cruel on them these days so you have to take what you can. We’ll see if we can find another novice chase for him,” said McCourt.

McCourt had earlier been full of praise for Ryan Cummings after the 19-year-old partnered Seveneightsix to victory in the George Micallef 60th Birthday Mares’ Only Novices’ Handicap Hurdle.

“That’s a good effort. He (Cummings) works very hard,” said McCourt.

“He’s had a lot of rides in these Arab races and he’s polished up his act a lot this autumn. It’s smashing.

“It’s a shame for the owners, Mr and Mrs Choudhury. They’ve waited a long time for this and they are stuck in traffic on the M1.”

Daryal, the 2-1 favourite, made a successful seasonal debut in the ladbrokes.com Handicap Hurdle.

The four-year-old, last seen finishing unplaced in the juvenile handicap hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival, overtook Papillon De Iena on the run-in to score by four lengths with Haditovski a similar distance away third.

“Robert (Thornton) said they went very quick so he let them get on with it. He’s a horse that’s probably better if he doesn’t see much daylight up the straight,” said trainer Alan King.

“We’ll see what the handicapper does. We won’t be going anywhere in a hurry. We’ll give it a couple of weeks and take it from there.”

Eau Pure (6-1) appreciated a drop back in trip to return to winning ways in the Prima Floor Handicap Chase.

Richard Johnson made smooth progress on the Gary Moore-trained mare to lead at the second last and win by three lengths from First De La Brunie.

“Last time she didn’t see the three-mile plus out. The boss has dropped her back in trip and she’s seen it out nicely,” said Moore’s travelling head lad, Steve White.

The owner-trainer-jockey team of David Johnson, Martin Pipe and Timmy Murphy followed up a successful Cheltenham Open meeting by introducing a promising French import in Nous Voila.

The four-year-old gelding sent favourite backers home happy on his jumping debut with a comfortable victory in the ladbrokes.com Novices’ Hurdle.

“That wasn’t a bad performance and he’s a nice type. He was second to Miss Academy on the Flat in France last year and she turned out to be a 128-rated hurdler,” said Pipe’s travelling head, Craig Wyllie.

Channahrlie registered his third success at Leicester with a bold display of jumping to take the ladbrokes.com Handicap Chase.

Zando showed the benefit of a drop in class to win the ladbrokes.com Selling Hurdle with the 7-2 shot beating Strathtay by a length and a quarter.