Weatherbys Cheltenham Festival Betting Guide Adonis Juvenile Hurdle |
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| Grade 2, Kempton Park 13:50 £30,000 added, 4yo only, 2m, Class 1  |
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| Saturday 22nd February 2020 | |
1 Solo 6/4F
2 Fujimoto Flyer 15/8
3 Tremwedge 8/1
9 ran Distances: 13l, 5½l, 1¾l
Time: 3m 54.60s (slow by 12.60s)
✈️ Flying SOLO at Kempton!
— Sporting Life (@SportingLife) February 22, 2020
A tremendous performance from Solo in the Adonis - he's very good - and he's your new Triumph Hurdle favourite...
3/1 (from 10s) - SOLO - Triumph Hurdle (Sky Bet, NRNB)pic.twitter.com/PDNisWFEkZ
Paul Nicholls' exciting four-year-old saunters to victory on his British debut, with Fujimoto Flyer a distant second.
Solo – who is still an entire – booked his ticket to the Cheltenham Festival as he proved a class above his rivals in the Grade Two prize, on his first start for champion trainer Paul Nicholls.
Front rank throughout the two-mile contest, the 6-4 favourite quickly put the race to bed early in the home straight, before crossing the line 13 lengths clear of the previously unbeaten Fujimoto Flyer.
Bookmakers were running for cover about his price for Cheltenham, and Nicholls said: “I’m obviously delighted. He showed us at home he was quite smart, but I wanted to see that sort of performance.
“As I said earlier with Pic D’Orhy, sometimes these French horses come over and you don’t know whether they have acclimatised, but he has.
“He has been a joy to train and does everything nicely. He is dead relaxed and did that impressively. He thrives on every bit of work you give him. The Triumph will suit him nicely.
“At the moment he would head up our juveniles and he is very smart. He will definitely have to run in the Triumph now, so fingers crossed he stays healthy over the next two weeks.”
The last time Nicholls completed the Adonis-Triumph Hurdle double was with Zarkandar back in 2011. However, the Ditcheat handler feels he has more in common with another of his former Grade One winners.
He said: “He is bigger and scopier than Zarkandar, as he was a Flat horse making his debut here, whereas he (Solo) won well at Auteuil the last day. I thought he was decent and he looks a proper horse.
“He strikes me of being in the model of Master Minded, as he is a big, strong horse that will make a lovely chaser one day.”
Adonis Juvenile Hurdle (Grade 2)
£30,000 added, 4yo only, 2m, Class 1
9 ran
Going: Good to Soft, Soft (in places)
1 Solo 4 11-3 Paul Nicholls Harry Cobden 6/4F
2 13 Fujimoto Flyer 4 10-10 Emmet Mullins Daryl Jacob 15/8
3 5½ Tremwedge 4 10-12 Alan King Tom Bellamy 8/1
4 1¾ Fantastic Ms Fox 4 10-10 Noel Williams Leighton Aspell 10/1
5 ½ Earl Of Harrow 4 10-12 Warren Greatrex Gavin Sheehan 10/1
6 hd Blame It On Sally 4 10-12 Alan King Tom Cannon 14/1
7 12 Vorashann 4 10-12 Gary Moore Joshua Moore 40/1
8 45 Waterproof 4 10-12 Shaun Keightley Jack Quinlan 33/1
FELL Royal Dancer 4 10-12 Sylvester Kirk Mark Grant 100/1
