QTS Scottish Champion Hurdle |
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| Grade 2, Limited Handicap, Ayr 15:00 £101,000 added, 4yo plus, 2m, Class 1  |
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| Saturday 16th April 2016 | |
1 Ch'tibello 8-1
2 Cloudy Dream 15-2
3 Clondaw Warrior 7/2
13 ran Distances: 1¼l, 1¼l, ¾l
TIME 3m 51.50s (slow by 11.50s)
Ch'Tibello lands the Scottish Champion Hurdle from the fast finishing Cloudy Dream
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Ch'tibello defied a 142-day layoff to win for Dan and Harry Skelton.
The trainer and jockey brothers had already taken one of the biggest handicap hurdles of the National Hunt season with Superb Story - who also hadn't run for several months - in the County Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival in March and they repeated the feat as Ch'tibello landed the Grade Two handicap.
Jockey Harry Skelton was happy settled in behind the leaders as Sternrubin and Zamdy Man took it in turns to act as pace-setter, but he wasn't no time in pouncing approaching the second last flight of hurdles, having bypassed the third-last.
Ch'tibello scooted away from the chasing pack and always looked in command from that point, despite a mistake at the last, while Malcolm Jefferson's Cloudy Dream flew home on the run-in to claim second and leave the Willie Mullins-trained Clondaw Warrior back in third, but he was a length and a quarter behind the impressive winner.
Skelton told Channel 4 Racing: "With him and Superb Story we knew we had good horses to work with.
"I'm glad we didn't get much of that forecast rain last night."
Owner Ian Narmion added: "Dan's been saying all season that he's the best handicapped horse in training."
Harry Skelton added: "He likes some nice ground so we've been trying to hang onto him and bring him in for a spring campaign.
"We didn't go very quickly and it was always going to be a bit of a sprint with the third last being bypassed but he's done it well."
QTS Scottish Champion Hurdle
£101,000 added, 4yo plus, 2m, Class 1
13 ran
Going: Good to Soft, Soft in Places
| Pos | D | Horse SP | Jockey Weight | Trainer | Age |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Ch'tibello (FR) 8/1 | Harry Skelton 11-1 |
D Skelton | 5 | |
| 2nd | 1¼ | Cloudy Dream (IRE) 15/2 | N D Fehily 10-13 |
J M Jefferson | 6 |
| 3rd | 1¼ | Clondaw Warrior (IRE) 7/2 | P Townend 11-10 |
W P Mullins | 9 |
| 4th | ¾ | Some Plan (IRE) 14/1 | Harry Cobden (5) 11-10 |
P F Nicholls | 8 |
| 5th | nse | Ivan Grozny (FR) (ex5) 11/4f | D J Mullins (3) 11-10 |
W P Mullins | 6 |
| 6th | hd | John Constable (IRE) 14/1 | Paul Moloney 11-3 |
Evan Williams | 5 |
| 7th | 3½ | Zaidiyn (FR) 16/1 | G Sheehan 11-8 |
B Ellison | 6 |
| 8th | nk | Always Resolute 40/1 | Danny Cook 11-1 |
B Ellison | 5 |
| 9th | ½ | Zamdy Man 25/1 | Aidan Coleman 11-10 |
Miss V Williams | 7 |
| 10th | 12 | Sternrubin (GER) 8/1 | R Johnson 11-8 |
P J Hobbs | 5 |
| 11th | 1 | Connetable (FR) 20/1 | Sam Twiston-Davies 11-8 |
P F Nicholls | 4 |
| 12th | 10 | Shrewd 11/1 | S A Shortall (5) 11-3 |
I Jardine | 6 |
| 13th | 15 | Ifandbutwhynot (IRE) 40/1 | J Reveley 11-2 |
T D Easterby | 10 |
