William Hill Rowland Meyrick Chase |
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| Grade 3 Handicap, Wetherby 13:35 £50,000 guaranteed, 4yo plus, 3m 45y, Class 1  |
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1 Some Scope 5/2F
2
Kinondo Kwetu 10/1
3
Good Boy Bobby 7/1
7 ran NR: Young Buster Distances: ¾l, 1l, 1l
Time: 6m 33.08s (slow by 29.08s)
Some Scope holds on in the @WillHillRacing Rowland Meyrick Handicap Chase to strike for the @RHBloodstock team. pic.twitter.com/a94FohFqbs
— Wetherby Racecourse (@WetherbyRaces) December 26, 2024
Although the winning margin was just three-quarters of a length after Kinondo Kwetu flew home to claim second, this gave the race a false complexion, as Some Scope looked the winner some way out and never appeared to be in danger.
On his first start for Sandy Thomson, Mr Incredible declined to set off when the tapes went up. However, the admirable veteran Good Boy Bobby needed no second invitation and was soon at the head of affairs. He was still in contention in the home straight, but both Tahmuras, a Grade One-winning novice hurdler, and Some Scope appeared to be going far better just in behind, while Sine Nomine was struggling to keep up.
Sine Nomine departed two fences from home, as Some Scope, under Charlie Maggs, eased into the lead and quickly opened up a decisive advantage. The six-year-old, trained by Richard Hobson, may have been in front for long enough with the pursuers slowly clawing back his lead, but defeat never seemed likely, despite Kinondo Kwetu's late burst.
Maggs was a late substitute for the originally declared jockey, Callum Pritchard, who had informed Hobson in the morning that he couldn't make the weight. The 19-year-old Maggs, attached to the stable of Donald McCain, had not previously ridden for Hobson. After consulting McCain and jockeys' agent Richard Hales, Hobson asked Maggs to take the ride.
Some Scope not only provided Maggs with his first winner for Hobson but was also the jockey's first winner over fences. Maggs' performance somewhat overshadowed that of Mark Walford and his team, who won the first three races to record a 178/1 treble. Walford told Racing TV, "We knew we'd come with a few chances today and we hoped we'd come out with a winner. This is great. It's a good effort by all the team at home to keep the show going. Just great that these three have won, three nice horses and chuffed for all the owners involved."
Rowland Meyrick Handicap Chase
£50,000 guaranteed, 4yo plus, 3m 45y, Class 1
7 ran
Going: Good to Soft, Good in places
POS. DIST HORSE AGE WGT TRAINER JOCKEy SP
1 Some Scope 6 10-2 Richard Hobson Callum Pritchard 5/2F
2 ¾ Kinondo Kwetu 8 11-2 Sam England Jonathan England 10/1
3 1 Good Boy Bobby 11 10-9 Nigel Twiston-Davies Jamie Brace 7/1
4 1 Tahmuras 7 11-7 Paul Nicholls Nick Scholfield 9/2
FELL
Sine Nomine 8 10-11 Fiona Needham Mr John Dawson 6/1
PU Cruz Control t 7 11-4 Tom Lacey Stan Sheppard 11/4
RR Mr Incredible 8 12-0 Sandy Thomson Ryan Mania 25/1
NR Young Buster 8 10-10 Fergal O'Brien NON RUNNER
