Skybet Supreme Novices' Hurdle Trial
Grade 2, Cheltenham 15:30
£32,000 added,
4yo plus,
2m 150yds, Class 1
 
Sunday 17th November 2019

1 Hang In There 6/1
2 Pacify 7/2
3 Ecco 6/4F
5 ran Distances: 3l, 14l, 2½l
Time: 4m 10.60s (slow by 19.60s)

There are few luckier charms in racing than owner Andrew Gemmell, who enjoyed yet another significant success with Hang In There, who beat Pacify in great style by three lengths and will now be aimed at the Supreme itself, for which he is a 25/1 chance with the sponsor.
 
Gemmell, blind since birth, enjoyed Festival success with Paisley Park in the G1 Sun Racing Stayers'Hurdle, and he has only recently returned from Australia, where True Self, in whom he had only recently taken a share, gave Willie Mullins his first winner in the Antipodes.
 
Hang In There, trained like Paisley Park by Emma Lavelle, is owned in partnership with Tim Syder, and so potent is Gemmell's luck that almost every owner in the stable wants him to take a share in their horse.
 
Gemmell was very animated in the winner's enclosure as he listened to the commentary and said afterwards: " That was fantastic. It's becoming a habit! "
 
Lavelle joked: " I'm trying to cover the spectrum for Andrew with his hurdlers. "
 
She added: " This horse is a little terrier. He's not very big, but he's all heart. He 's a really good mover, and I wasn't sure about the ground, but he's handled this the same as he's handled better ground.
 
" He's always on the gas at home, always busy enough, but he's all heart and he' ll keep fighting for you. I think we'll stick where we are now for the minute distance wise, and I suppose we had better treat him like a proper horse now.
 
" To be in with a chance in the big two-mile championship races you've got to be able to travel and you've got to be able to stay, and he only just got beaten in a two-and-a-half-mile novice at Fairyhouse. He doesn't have to make it, but it's better to let him get on with it than fight him. He's an exciting prospect and he's done nothing wrong. "
 
Syder said: " He had already had one hurdle run in Ireland over two and a half miles before we bought him. Emma bought him and Andy [Gemmell] was very keen to buy him. I was not so sure but they had my arm up my back! He ran very well at Exeter and we were hopeful today but he was up against four other good ones. We are very happy. "

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Skybet Supreme Trial Novices' Hurdle
(Registered As The Sharp Novices' Hurdle) (Grade 2)
£32,000 added, 4yo plus, 2m 87y, Class 1
5 ran
Going: Soft, Heavy in places

POS DIST HORSE AGE WGT TRAINER JOCKEY SP
1     Hang In There 5 11-0 Emma Lavelle Adam Wedge 6/1
2  
3 Pacify 7 11-5 Jamie Snowden Gavin Sheehan 7/2
2
14 Ecco 4 11-0 Paul Nicholls Harry Cobden 6/4F
3
Eden Du Houx 5 11-0 David Pipe Tom Scudamore 6/1
5
15 Scardura 5 11-0 2 Neil Mulholland Sam Twiston-Davies 9/2