Thomas stars before date with destiny
Sam Thomas warmed up for the biggest ride of his career on Kauto Star at the weekend with a confidence-boosting success on board the Paul Nicholls-trained Geeveem at Wincanton.
Thomas bided his time on the 7-2 chance as Nykel and Tom Sayers scrapped it out at the head of affairs, before producing him late in the day to land the Richard & Rosemary Jenks Memorial Handicap by one and a quarter lengths from the former.
Things are also looking brighter for Robert Alner as the Dorset handler makes steady progress in hospital – while his string hit the heights on the racecourse.
Surgeons were able to perform a delayed tracheotomy on Wednesday when Alner also received a birthday boost courtesy of Present M’Lord, who gained a first success for the yard since his car accident.
And Miss Mitch kept the ball rolling at Wincanton when running away from some decent rivals in the EBF/Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association Mares Only Novices’ Chase.
Andrew Thornton was always exuding confidence on the 11-4 chance, who took over just before the principals turned for home and went on to inflict a 12-length defeat on 11-2 shot Harringay.
“Hopefully it’s a tonic for Robert,” said Thornton.
“Last year what she did was hopefully just the start. She ran a great race in the mares’ final behind Karello Bay and this was a good performance. She’s won one point-to-point and she enjoys her jumping, which is obviously a bonus.
“She travelled well, a little too well early on, and I was a little worried she’d run out of petrol. But what I liked about her was that she was neat and tidy early on, she can stand off and she did everything asked of her,” he told Racing UK.
“She’s a nice mare and there’s obviously the mares’ final at Newbury to hopefully look forward to.
“Time will tell, but she’s hardy and hopefully she will be able to hold her own against the boys.”
Pauntley Gofa (7-2) took the concluding WBX.com World Bet Exchange Handicap Chase to provide Thornton with a near 16-1 double, while Philip Hobbs sent out Cryptic to land the WBX.com World Bet Exchange Novices’ Hurdle.
Owned by Diana Whateley, the 9-2 shot was always prominent and found plenty for pressure to grind out a four-length triumph over Earth Planet.
Hobbs and Whateley were also responsible for Kornati Kid, who finished well to take third at 25-1.
“I’d like to think they’re both very much for the future, and Kornati Kid is a very big horse,” Hobbs said.
“They’ve both run great actually and I wouldn’t like to say which will be the better prospect. We’ll look for another ordinary little novices’ hurdle next time for Cryptic and we might even step him up to three miles.
“I think they’re both stayers and I hope they’ll make up into nice three-mile chasers in time.”
Earlier on the card, 12-year-old Festival Flyer rolled back the years to take the Mike Withers Handicap Hurdle, while Miss Midnight gained her first career victory in the Racing Post-sponsored opener.
In the same race, conditional Jason Favell was hit with a two-day ban (December 3-4) after appearing to strike his mount, Jigsaw Dancer, in annoyance after pulling up.
