Ladbrokes Trophy Handicap Chase |
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| Grade 3 Handicap, Newbury 15:00 £250,000 added, 4yo plus, 3m 1f 214y, Class 1  |
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| Saturday 1st December 2018 | |
1 Sizing Tennessee 12/1
2
Elegant Escape 4/1
3
Dingo Dollar 10/1
12 ran NR: Go Conquer Kemboy Distances: 10l, 7l, 15l
Time: 6m 37.10s (slow by 6.10s)
Sizing Tennessee wins the LadbrokesTrophy impressively
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Sizing Tennessee gained an impressive victory over Elegant Escape as trainer Colin Tizzard recorded a memorable first and second in Britain’s second-richest handicap chase.
Ridden by Tom Scudamore, the 10-year-old son of Robin Des Champs travelled menacingly into contention approaching the home straight and took the lead four fences from home.
Sizing Tennessee went clear and sealed a tremendous victory with an excellent leap at the last to run out a convincing 10-length winner.
Tizzard, who is based on the Somerset/Dorset border, also saddled Elegant Escape (Harry Cobden), who ran on in the closing stages to finish second, seven lengths ahead of Dingo Dollar in third (Alan King/Wayne Hutchinson), who was prominent throughout. West Approach (Adam Wedge), who came fifth, also represented Tizzard.
Reflecting on his second Ladbrokes Trophy victory following on from Native River in 2016, Tizzard said: “That was a brilliant performance from Sizing Tennessee. It was fantastic to win and it’s an unreal day.
“We haven’t run this horse since he bolted up at Fontwell in October. We wanted to give him one race before Christmas and he delivers that performance. Sizing Tennessee had leg trouble before he came to me and he was a horse who had low mileage.
“Sizing Tennessee strode away today and obviously it does surprise you with the manner in which he won. I thought he would run a big race and he was travelling well on the way into the straight. He was the horse in the home straight that if he didn’t clobber one, he was going to win.
“His jumping has become very good. This horse is in the Welsh National and that is something we might look at.
“To have three in the first five in a race of this nature is incredible.”
“Elegant Escape ran on really well to finish second and I was watching him thinking that he wasn’t going to catch Sizing Tennessee. He has run a real solid race and he is also in the Welsh National.
“West Approach was up there throughout the race and has also run very well in fifth.”
Joe Tizzard, an assistant trainer to his father Colin, added: “Sizing Tennessee is clearly improving. That was a serious performance today. They went an end-to-end gallop and that played to his strengths.
“Sizing Tennessee stays very well and that is what he showed today.
“I think he is going to be more of a Welsh National horse as he looks to be a horse who is all about stamina and that stamina showed today.
“He also has the ability to win over two and a half miles, so he is versatile. He also performs on all sorts of ground.”
An emotional Tom Scudamore, successful for the second time in the Ladbrokes Trophy after Madison Du Berlais in 2008, commented: “I lost my grandad two weeks ago, my mother’s father, and it was his funeral yesterday. but I wasn’t able to go.
“Those are the sacrifices you make and I was so sorry that I wasn’t able to be there, but he was with us today. He was a tremendous man, a legend in the Ledbury area, and he helped a lot of people. It’s one is for him.
“Sizing Tennessee has always been a good horse – I have said that all along and I really fancied him. I told Dave Roberts (agent) that this was the one I wanted to ride if I was given the choice.
“His novice chase form from last season is very good. If you fancied Ms Parfois, you had to fancy this fellow because of how they ran at Cheltenham. We were meeting them all on better terms as well – his Fontwell run had turned out well as the second horse had come out and won twice since.
“Even though he is 10, I felt that he was slightly under the radar. I didn’t expect to win quite that well but a win is a win. He didn’t quite keep galloping over four miles (when third in the National Hunt Chase at the Cheltenham Festival in March), but three and a quarter miles around here is a different ball game and I was always very happy with him. It was a great thrill.
“He was a bit awkward at one or two fences but he lands running, which is all that matters. It was a really good performance and Colin is a master of these staying chasers. He has won that in the stamp of a good horse. You don’t get too many winners of this race winning that well.
“It is one of the finest chases in the country and it means an awful lot. Dan Fortt won it in 1993 on Cogent and he helped me an awful lot today, even though I have ridden in the race plenty of times. From a long way out, Sizing Tennessee was going nicely and it was just up to me not to mess it up.
“I have a good association with the Tizzards. I am very lucky with the people that I ride for – David Pipe has been so good to me over the years and I have had a lot of success with Colin. Long may it continue.”
Sizing Tennessee, a second season novice, is owned by Ann & Alan Potts Limited.
Ladbrokes Trophy (Grade 3 Handicap)
£250,000 added, 4yo plus, 3m 1f 214y, Class 1
12 ran
Going: Soft, Good to Soft in places
| Pos | D | Horse SP | Jockey Weight | Trainer | Age |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Sizing Tennessee (IRE) 12/1 | T Scudamore 11-3 |
C L Tizzard | 10 | |
| 2nd | 10 | Elegant Escape (IRE) (ex4) 4/1 | H Cobden 11-10 |
C L Tizzard | 6 |
| 3rd | 7 | Dingo Dollar (IRE) 10/1 | Wayne Hutchinson 11-3 |
A King | 6 |
| 4th | 15 | Beware The Bear (IRE) 14/1 | J McGrath 11-3 |
N J Henderson | 8 |
| 5th | 7 | West Approach 25/1 | Adam Wedge 10-11 |
C L Tizzard | 8 |
| 6th | 1¼ | Ms Parfois (IRE) 8/1 | Aidan Coleman 11-1 |
A J Honeyball | 7 |
| 7th | 13 | Allysson Monterg (FR) 50/1 | James Bowen 10-13 |
Richard Hobson | 8 |
| 8th | 4 | Flying Angel (IRE) 18/1 | Thomas Bellamy 10-11 |
N A Twiston-Davies | 7 |
| NR | Kemboy (FR) (ex4) | Non Runner 11-12 |
W P Mullins | 6 | |
| NR | Go Conquer (IRE) | Non Runner 11-2 |
N A Twiston-Davies | 9 | |
| PU | Black Corton (FR) 12/1 | Bryony Frost 11-12 |
P F Nicholls | 7 | |
| PU | American (FR) 15/2 | Miss A B O'Connor (5) 11-9 |
H Fry | 8 | |
| PU | Thomas Patrick (IRE) 3/1f | R Johnson 11-3 |
Tom Lacey | 6 | |
| PU | The Young Master (ex4) 15/2 | Mr S Waley-Cohen (3) 10-8 |
N P Mulholland | 9 | |
| NR | Kemboy (FR) (ex4) | Non Runner 11-12 |
W P Mullins | 6 | |
| NR | Go Conquer (IRE) | Non Runner 11-2 |
N A Twiston-Davies | 9 |
