Joy and despair for Harris
Milton Harris suffered the ups and downs of jumps racing when he had a horse put down and later saddled a winner on the New Year’s Day card at Fakenham.
The Banbury trainer had expected a big run from Mysterious Green in the opening Heritage House Selling Handicap but the four-year-old suffered a broken leg.
“We thought we would win the first race, but the horse was seriously injured. He broke a leg and sadly had to be destroyed,” said Harris.
Victory went to the Lucy Wadham-trained Storm Haven (12-1), who led three out and easily won by 13 lengths from Something Gold under 7lb claimer Matt Cawley.
Compensation awaited Harris in the concluding Happy New Year Handicap Hurdle when 7-4 favourite Snake Charmer, ridden by Dave Crosse, bolted up by 27 lengths.
“The handicapper won’t look at it kindly, but it’s nice to have a winner,” he said.
“The horse that beat him on Boxing Day (Picaroon) ran well at Cheltenham today under a penalty, so the form is decent.
“We’ve had the highs and lows of National Hunt racing today and I think people should see both sides of the coin.”
Midnight Chase completed a hat-trick in promising style in the Welcome To 2009 Handicap Hurdle.
The 11-8 favourite took it up from Serhaaphim before the third-last and went on to defeat the long-time leader by five lengths under 5lb claimer Richard Killoran.
He has now won four of his six starts for trainer Neil Mulholland who was not on hand to see the victory as he was supervising his runners at Exeter.
“He did it well, but I don’t think he handled the track all that well. It was a probably a bit tight for him, but it was a race that looked winnable,” said the Dorset-based handler.
“His two previous wins were on heavy ground but he’s run on a quicker surface before and he was a hard horse to get right.
“There are no major plans. We’ll just take it step by step. he’s a nice horse and we’ll see what the handicapper does to him.
“He also jumps fences very well and he keeps improving. We won’t run him every week, but every time we ask him he steps up to the plate.”
Nicky Henderson sent just one runner to the Norfolk venue but Midsummer Magic (5-1) ensured The Queen had a winning start as a owner to 2009 by landing the New Year’s Day Maiden Hurdle.
Felix de Giles, who claims 3lb, made all on the five-year-old, who held Mvuto by a neck.
Mattaking finally opened his account at the 14th attempt when justifying 5-2 favouritism in the A.C.T. Ltd C.D. Welton Amateur Riders’ Handicap Chase.
However, his supporters had a scare when he almost took the wrong course on the run-in but 5lb claiming amateur Brian Toomey steered him back on the right track to beat Gus by 13 lengths.
