Magnetic Pole wins in Bangor

A wet Sunday over fences at Bangor was never really on the agenda in the formative years of Magnetic Pole, who landed the Racing UK Focused On Racing Novices' Handicap Chase.

Formerly owned and bred by The Queen and trained by Michael Stoute, bigger things were obviously anticipated in his earlier career.

However, the six-year-old got his head in front on his chasing bow when winning an incident-packed contest by 11 lengths.

Only two of the six runners slogged their way through the sodden ground but most of the interest went at the start when favourite Star Angler was withdrawn on veterinary advice.

One by one the others fell by the wayside, which left Magnetic Pole with only the aptly-named Heavy Weather to beat.

Trainer Ben Case said: “We were probably a little lucky to win after Abraham Smith came down late in the race but the name of the game is jumping and he has schooled well at home.

“He was quite expensive when we bought him and as far as progression is concerned, you can never tell because this looked a bad race.”