Trustatrader Top Novices' Hurdle |
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| Grade 1, Aintree 14:55 £100,000 guaranteed, 4yo plus, 2m 103y, Class 1 |
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Sober Glory heads to Aintree with unfinished business, his sights set on atoning for that agonising reversal in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle.
Old Park Star takes the Cheltenham Festival opener 🏆
— ITV Racing (@itvracing) March 10, 2026
The Sky Bet Supreme Novices' Hurdle belongs to @NdeBoinville & @sevenbarrows 👏 pic.twitter.com/7RTllQwNaE
The six-year-old, trained by Philip Hobbs and Johnson White, had boldly taken the field along at Cheltenham, dictating matters from the front until a costly error at the final obstacle shifted momentum decisively in favour of Nicky Henderson’s Old Park Star. The favourite duly capitalised, forging clear to score by a length and a half, while Sober Glory was left to rue what might have been.
Connections are in little doubt that the late mistake proved pivotal. Yet with neither the winner nor third-placed Mydaddypaddy pencilled in for Aintree, the upcoming Top Novices’ Hurdle on April 10 presents a timely opportunity for redemption.
White said: “We’re very much looking at Aintree and we’ll stick at two miles. He will get further in time but at the moment there is no need to step up in trip.
“He travelled really well at Cheltenham and the winner and third from the Supreme are not going to Aintree – no doubt something else will turn up though – and hopefully we can jump all eight hurdles smoothly and get the result we know we’re capable.
“The last invariably cost him in the Supreme and then he got hampered on the run-in. He did very well to battle back for second from the position he was in.
“Having seen how he’s gone round Newbury this season, I think Aintree will suit, but having said that he has won round Exeter and ran brilliantly at Cheltenham so doesn’t need a flat track.”
There is a sense that this remains a horse on the rise, one whose best days may lie beyond the current campaign.
He added: “He’s a massively exciting horse for the future and whatever he does this season is a real bonus. I think going chasing next year is the most likely course, but we don’t need to make that decision at the moment and we’ll enjoy what he’s doing over hurdles at the moment.”
Top Novices' Hurdle (Grade 1)
£100,000 guaranteed, 4yo plus, 2m 103y, Class 1
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