Belch steps on the gas

Toby Belch gave Paddy Brennan a winner on his first ever ride for Henry Daly in the Huggies Novices’ Hurdle at Ascot.

Considered a top chasing prospect by his trainer, the 7-2 scorer has not been the most straightforward of horses at home.

But the way he battled back to thwart the favourite Barnhill Brownie by a length and a half suggests the five-year-old is a horse worth waiting for.

Daly said: “It’s beautiful ground – just on the soft side of good – and he was winging his hurdles.

“It was quite hard work at the end, though.”