The Long Walk Hurdle produced a sensational finish and a third consecutive success for Reve De Sivola after reeling in Zarkandar, who had started odds-on and traded at 1-100 for more than £12,000 after he cruised to the front in the straight.
Zarkandar’s defeat counts as a bump in the road for the new team of trainer Paul Nicholls and jockey Sam Twiston-Davies, though they came within a head of landing another big Saturday prize.
Victory went to Daryl Jacob, who inherited the ride on Reve De Sivola because Richard Johnson was suspended for taking the wrong course at Exeter recently. Jacob said the victory was “as much for Dickie as it is for me” and lavished praise on his nine-year-old mount.
“This horse’ll die for you, trying. This horse has got one of the biggest hearts I’ve ever ridden. It’s never over until you’ve crossed the line. Ascot brings out the best in him.”
Jacob had his high points last season – though he ended the campaign injured and lost his position as Nicholls’ main jockey. “But I’m still riding good horses,” he said. “I’ve had doubles the last two Saturdays.” And he will be aboard Cue Card in Friday’s King George VI Chase.
Twiston-Davies, riding Zarkandar for only the second time, sought to explain why his horse had not won with the ease that seemed on the cards when he led two out. “I felt he was going very strongly. I didn’t necessarily go for him, just left him to do what he was doing all the way round and when he hit the front, he just froze a little bit. He did fight back but it was just a little bit too late. Anyway, we know for next time and it’s just one of those things.” Nicholls kept his thoughts about the outcome to himself.
Twiston-Davies had ridden an earlier winner on Irish Saint but it was downhill from there, as he finished strongly but marginally too late on Pine Creek behind Bayan in the valuable Ladbroke Handicap Hurdle.
Pine Creek’s trainer, John Ferguson, was philosophical. “Sam’s such a happy guy,” he said. “This will just slide off him and so it should. There’s a lot of young men who’d like to have a tough day like the one he’s had.”
Just to rub it in, the stewards banned Twiston-Davies for four days for overuse of the whip. Davy Condon got a 15-day ban for the same offence aboard Bayan.
Earlier, there was a consolatory success in the Silver Cup for The Young Master, disqualified from his victory at Wincanton last month when it emerged that he had been an ineligible runner. No such complications arose this time and it is clear that his trainer, Neil Mulholland, has a promising young chaser on his hands, one for whom future Gold Cups can be seriously considered.
