Everyone loves a character and Not So Sleepy, who is apparently building a following through his unpredictable antics, will have gladdened many hearts by running away with the Betfair Exchange Trophy for the second year in a row.
The word headstrong hardly seems enough to describe the way the chestnut launches himself into a race and it ought to have cost him on sodden ground but he kept his wheels turning to defy odds of 20-1.
It was a much happier outcome than in the Fighting Fifth three weeks ago. Sent on a 600-mile round trip from his Berkshire stable to Newcastle he disgraced himself by swerving on approach to the first hurdle and dropping his jockey on the turf. He swerved again at the second, knocking the fancied Silver Streak out of the race, and then roared zestfully round the outside of the track, beating the winner to the line.
“He’s fun, isn’t he?” was the first reaction from Hughie Morrison, who has the significant headache of training Not So Sleepy. “He’s getting quite a following.”
Morrison said he had received a series of mickey-taking texts the night before as various people tumbled to the fact his turbulent charge was to race again. “He’s actually been quite well behaved since he went halfway into Newcastle. He didn’t go right around the track and quicken up past Epatante for nothing.
“It’s a huge kick to win again with him. When he’s right, he’s really good. And when he’s not, he thinks ‘well, sod it’.”
Last season ended on a couple of low notes for Not So Sleepy, who loves to dominate a race from the front, as he did here. Back in the spring, the Betfair Hurdle and the Champion Hurdle had standing starts and on both occasions the resulting stramash prevented him from asserting his favourite position at the head of affairs. Did he sulk through those races? Only Not So Sleepy knows for sure.
Anyway, this effort from near the top of the weights shows he still has masses of ability. It was also a testament to his enduring appetite for the game, as it is more than six years since he made a winning debut in a maiden race at Nottingham. Morrison recalled that he won a Derby trial the following spring.
His owner, Lady Blyth, must therefore be used to the experience of having her hopes raised and Morrison is now doing so again. “We’ll probably go for the Champion Hurdle,” he said. “Straight there, no messing around.” Other contenders for the Cheltenham Festival race will no doubt be delighted to hear it.
Fakenham
12.45 Martello Sky 1.15 Piggy Winkle 1.45 Maypole Class 2.20 Silkstone 2.50 Miss Gemstone (nap) 3.20 Diocletian
Southwell
2.15 Luscifer 2.45 Dabirstar 3.15 Social City 3.45 Duke Of Firenze (nb) 4.15 Spring Romance 4.45 Salam Ya Faisal 5.15 Grand Pianola
Bangor abandoned due to waterlogging
Paisley Park reasserted himself as king of the stayers with a last-gasp success in the Porsche Long Walk Hurdle, having looked in serious trouble at the turn for home. This was his first win since a fibrillating heart was diagnosed in the spring, thought to have been the cause of his flop at the last Festival.
“I’m more concerned now about my heart than his,” said the winning trainer, Emma Lavelle. “It looks like his heart problem has cleared up. We’ve had no cause for concern anyway.”
Paisley Park lost a good position on the inside rail when the smooth-travelling Roksana moved cheekily up his inner, but in hindsight it looks as though she used herself up rather too soon. Thyme Hill made a bold bid to follow up his Newbury success last month but this time Paisley Park was able to run him down with inches to spare. He will now be aimed at Cheltenham’s Cleeve Hurdle next month.
