Bargain-buy lands riches for Smith

Michael Smith and his wife Sandra may combine farming with training racehorses “just for fun” but they spiked the big guns at Aintree when Orsippus won the £100,000 Matalan Anniversary 4-Y-O Novices’ Hurdle.

Just as the front-running Barizan was seeing off the challenge of Sanctuaire on the run-in, along came 40-1 chance Orsippus with a wet sail under Davy Condon to collar them both and go three and a quarter lengths clear.