Sovereign Handicap Hurdle |
 |
Lingfield 15:35
£100,000 guaranteed,
4yo plus,
2m, Class 2  |
|
Friday 21st January 2022 |
1 Metier 11/4
2
Gowel Road 17/2
3 Carrarea 3/1
12 ran Distances: 1¼l, 5½l, 3¼l
Time: 4m 10.50s (slow by 19.50s)
Metier looked a star in the making for Harry Fry this time last year, when he relished testing ground to win the G1
Tolworth Novices’ Hurdle at Sandown Park by 11 lengths.
Back on a similar surface today after a good fourth at Ascot before Christmas, the 11/4 favourite was ridden prominently by Sean Bowen and was never seriously challenged after taking the lead before the second hurdle.
Metier travelled best of all off the home turn and kept up the gallop in the straight to score by a length and a quarter from the staying-on Gowel Road. Irish raider Carrarea was nine lengths further back in third.
Fry, who won the opening contest with exciting mare Love Envoi, said: “That was the real Metier with conditions to suit.
“Sean was brilliant on him. We said we would line up and go our own tempo. He went quick to the first and then Sean dropped his hands and the horse galloped and jumped.
“We were a staying-on fourth at Ascot last time and we thought today that we would let him roll. Sean had him in a nice rhythm and they have put the others to the sword.
“This was the plan. He is in the
Betfair Hurdle and if we had this sort of ground, he will be there. There are other good options in February as well.
“This is a fantastic prize. We have won three times the amount today that we did in the Grade 1 Tolworth last season. The Winter Million is a great new initiative and if this is an annual event, you can count on him being here.”
Bowen said: “We know Metier stays very well and is one of them that if you try to pull him when you’re going slower, he starts wrestling with you. Rather than that, you just leave him and he goes a good gallop.
“We have always thought that he was a good horse, and he was probably off a nice mark today. He is a
proper horse on this ground, which is a problem because we don’t get it very often.
“Ground that is tacky and very hard work, he loves that – it feels like good ground on him. You don’t always get that ground but, when you do, he is a good horse.”
Sovereign Handicap Hurdle
£100,000 guaranteed, 4yo plus, 2m, Class 2
12 ran
Going: Heavy
POS. DIST HORSE AGE WGT TRAINER JOCKEY SP
1 Metier 6 11-10 Harry Fry Sean Bowen 11/4
2 1¼ Gowel Road 6 11-12 Nigel Twiston-Davies Sam Twiston-Davies 17/2
3 5½ Carrarea 5 10-12 Emmet Mullins Paul Townend 3/1
4 3¼ Hacker Des Places 5 11-3 Paul Nicholls Harry Cobden 20/1
5 nk Destrier 9 10-2 Dan Skelton Mr Tristan Durrell 150/1
6 2½ Hudson De Grugy 5 11-6 Gary Moore Jamie Moore 100/30
7 27 Mack The Man 8 10-13 Evan Williams Adam Wedge 22/1
8 1 Lucky Max 6 11-7 Sean Thomas Doyle Jack Foley 13/2
9 hd Chti Balko 10 11-0 Donald McCain Theo Gillard 33/1
10 7½ Sevenna Star 7 10-8 Emmet Mullins Mike O'Connor 50/1
PU Antunes 8 11-5 Dan Skelton Harry Skelton 125/1
UR
Thibault 9 10-7 Adam West Richard Patrick 22/1
