Paul Nicholls, who is assembling a potent team for next month’s Cheltenham Festival, will hope for better fortune than he endured at Fontwell on Sunday.
The champion trainer’s classy hurdler Silsol, successful in the Welsh Champion Hurdle last month, was sent off 4-9 favourite for the day’s feature race, the Grade Two National Spirit Hurdle, but he had no answer to Kilcooley, who led the field a merry dance on the stamina sapping heavy ground.
Noel Fehily, who will partner the Nicholls-trained Silviniaco Conti in next month’s Gold Cup, was in opposition here and sat motionless until they turned for home, when his mount responded generously to land the £50,000 contest for the trainer Charlie Longsdon.
The winning owner, John Wall, brother of the Newmarket trainer Chris, said: “Noel believes he is best when fresh and Charlie [Longsdon] did a great job with him. We will probably bypass Cheltenham now and might even go to Punchestown and have a day out.”
There were warning signs for favourite backers after the opener when Nicholls’ Wilton Milan (8-11) had to settle for second behind Gary Moore’s Luna Leo in the Josh Gifford Memorial Novices Chase.
The result had echoes of 12 months ago in which a Moore-trained runner got the verdict over a Nicholls charge.
Moore reported that his stable star, Sire De Grugy, had recovered well from Saturday’s exertions at Chepstow.
The Sussex-based handler said: “He came out of the race great and jogged up nice this morning. It was a much better effort this weekend. Looking at that Newbury run [two weeks earlier], he wasn’t tanking along like he was [at Chepstow] yesterday.”
The reigning champion chaser was cut to 9-2 to retain his crown immediately after passing the post on Saturday and the bookmakers were forced to cut him even further to 7-2 on Sunday as the money continued to come for him.
Looking ahead to Sire De Grugy’s bid for a second Queen Mother Champion Chase, Moore said: “It’s going to be a race to look forward to. He proved he is right on target at the weekend. I know it is only 18 days away but at the moment I am very happy. As a trainer you do worry as a lot can happen in that time but, if I can get a clear run and he is in the same form as last year, then he will go there with a big chance again.”
The bookmakers’ satchels were bulging after the fourth race at Fontwell when Rock The Kasbah became the third odds-on favourite to suffer defeat. Philip Hobbs’ hurdler, who was sent off at odds of 2-7, had no answer to Wychwood Brook, ridden by Adam Wedge. Hobbs’ five-year-old never looked like pegging back Evan Williams’ Welsh raider.
There were two Graded contests at Naas on Sunday and, although they did not offer many clues for the Cheltenham Festival, the progressive Mallowney looked a different class coming home 17 lengths clear of Rathlin in the Grade 2 Paddy Power Your Local Betting Shop Chase.
Following an easy handicap success at Fairyhouse last month, he took the step up in class in his stride and his trainer, Timothy Doyle, will run him at Fairyhouse [in the Norman’s Grove] next, followed by the Punchestown Festival.
Explaining the huge recent progress of his rising star, Doyle said: “He is more relaxed this year and we are putting the improvement down to that.”
Lean Araig, given a positive ride by Robbie Colgan, won an exciting renewal of the Grade 2 Paddy Power Shops Better Value Novice Hurdle. He had won his two previous races this year, both over three miles, but he proved equally effective over this mile shorter trip, when getting the better of Modem after a real tussle.
Tony McCoy continued the countdown to his imminent retirement when riding a short-priced double at Southwell aboard Zip Top and Spookydooky, taking his seasonal tally to 213.
