Gordon Elliott strikes at Cheltenham April Meeting
Irish trainer Gordon Elliott continued his streak of Cheltenham successes on Wednesday as The Friday Man landed the Citipost Novices’ Hurdle in good style.
The six-year-old, ridden by Sean Bowen, hadn’t been seen since October 2022 when finishing second to Plains Indian at Limerick, however, following a 178-day break from the track, the £43,000 purchase did enough to win on day one of the Cheltenham April Meeting.
The Kayf Tara gelding beat Ben Pauling’s Twig and Olly Murphy’s Chasing Fire, 12th in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle, over 2m4f and Elliott believes there could be a good future for his progressive winner.
“He’s a nice horse who won a couple of races for us in the summer,” said Elliott. “He’s only a novice for a couple more weeks so we said we would take our chance with him now.
“I was out on the track and I’d say that the ground was beautiful, roughly good to yielding and it’s safe, so it was nice for him.
“It’s always great to get a winner at Cheltenham, the race suited us, and the owners were looking forward to having him run around here.
“I always said I would get him back for a spring campaign, he’ll go chasing next and I’d hope he’d be a nice chaser.”
The Gold Cup-winning trainer came close to taking the final race of the day, however, By Your Side found Black Poppy and Samtara too good up the famous hill.
Earlier in the day, Nicky Henderson began the meeting in firing form thanks to Caribbean Boy who bounced back to his former self in the feature race of the day, the Grade 2 Matt Hampson Foundation Silver Trophy Handicap Chase.
Priced at odds of 28/1, the nine-year-old grey last visited the winner’s enclosure in January 2022 at Kempton off a three-pound lower mark and the gelding was making his first start since his second wind operation of the season in February.
“It’s his first run back since having his wind done and it’s noticeable actually at home how much lower he’s been carrying his head than he was before,” said Henderson.
“It’s just great to see him back, he’s a lovely horse and he’s been a good friend. I’ve got to say I think that this time the wind probably had done the trick, as you could see the difference at home – he is enjoying himself again.
“I was desperate for him to go for the Topham [at Aintree], we nearly won it anyways [Fantastic Lady was second for the yard] so guess what would have happened had he been in it! Daryl wasn’t very keen on the Topham and has always said no, so there’s nothing I can do.”
Gloucestershire were well-represented throughout the day at the home of jump racing and Withington-based operator Fergal O’Brien landed a case of Deja Vu in the Weatherite Air Conditioning Handicap Chase as Captain Cattistock retained his title in the contest under Liam Harrison.
The 10-year-old was balloted out of the Grand National having been declared for the world’s most famous race, something that looks to have been a blessing in disguise.
“We didn’t get into the National, but these things happen for a reason, so it’s great to come here,” the boss of Ravenswell Farm said. “He’s a phenomenal horse, he seldom runs a bad race here or anywhere.
“He’s such a character – he was pulling himself up at the end there, so he obviously doesn’t want to go in the National next year!
“This race was always plan A, we never thought we’d get so close to getting into the National – most years we wouldn’t have got anywhere near it – so this was nice today.”
The success gave O’Brien his 136th winner of the 2022-23 campaign, a record number for the yard.