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| Sefton Novices' Hurdle Friday 5th April 2013 |
At Fishers Cross a Classy Winner of Sefton Hurdle
05/04/13
1 At Fishers Cross 11/8 Fav
2 Just A Par 8/1
3 Buachaill Alainn 40/1
NR: Imperial Leader (IRE), Our Vinnie (IRE)
9 ran Distances: 8l, 1l, 6l
TIME 6m 29.20s (slow by 35.20s)
The champion jockey A P McCoy was full of praise for John Smith’s Sefton Novices’ Hurdle winner At Fishers Cross, who has now carried him to consecutive victories at the Cheltenham Festival and at Aintree.
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He said of the six-year-old son of Oscar: “At Fishers Cross has been winning all winter in heavy ground and last year, for some reason, he couldn’t physically jump. He was obviously very hard to get right but in fairness to Rebecca [Curtis, trainer], she has done unbelievably well to turn him around.
“I thought he wanted cut in the ground and we could have put him away after Cheltenham but Rebecca was adamant he would be okay on better ground. It probably wasn’t as good a race as tghe World Hurdle the obvious main target.” The gelding was cut from 6/1 to 4/1 yesterday for the Cheltenham crown by MansionBet .
John Smith's Sefton Novices' Hurdle
100,000 added, 4yo plus, 3m 110y, Class 1
9 ran
Going: Good to Soft, Good in places
| Position |
Horse Trainer |
Jockey Weight |
Starting Price Beaten Distance |
| 1 |
At Fishers Cross Miss R Curtis |
A P McCoy 11st 4lbs |
11 - 8 Winner |
| 2 |
Just A Par P F Nicholls |
R Walsh 11st 4lbs |
8 - 1 8 lengths |
| 3 |
Buachaill Alainn P Bowen |
J E Moore 11st 4lbs |
40 - 1 1 length |
| 4 |
Master Of The Sea N A Twiston-Davies |
S Twiston-Davies 11st 4lbs |
11 - 2 6 lengths |
| 5 |
Uxizandre A King |
W Hutchinson 11st 4lbs |
16 - 1 4 1/2 lengths |
| 6 |
Gevrey Chambertin D Pipe |
T Scudamore 11st 4lbs |
10 - 1 13 lengths |
| 7 |
Yesyoucan B Ellison |
Danny Cook 11st 4lbs |
9 - 1 13 lengths |
| 8 |
Road To Riches N Meade |
B J Geraghty 11st 4lbs |
11 - 2 13 lengths |
| PulledUp |
Kris Cross Miss Lucinda V Russell |
P Buchanan 11st 4lbs |
66 - 1 |
| NonRunner |
Imperial Leader N A Twiston-Davies |
J M Maguire 11st 4lbs |
- |
| NonRunner |
Our Vinnie C Byrnes |
P Townend 11st 4lbs |
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CHASING NEXT FOR JUST A PAR AND BUACHAILL ALAINN
Marching triumphantly onwards, At Fishers Cross extended his unbeaten sequence in today’s John Smith’s Sefton Novices’ Hurdle, but the second and third have new targets ahead.
The Paul Nicholls-trained Just A Par is a chaser-in-waiting, boasting size and substance, while tough Buachaill Alainn, representing in-form trainer Peter Bowen, is also heading over fences in the near future.
Nicholls said: “We’ll be going novice chasing with him in the autumn and he’ll be better for a summer and some sun on his back. He’s a really exciting horse for the future and we’re really pleased with him.
“He jumps and gallops and stays – he’s just a little bit green. We would have liked to have latched onto A P [McCoy, who rode the winner] and had a crack at him slightly earlier but his inexperience showed and he got a little bit behind before staying on. We weren’t coming here expecting anything, we just wanted a nice run and to get more experience.
“He’s improved so much since his last run so we’ll be patient, give him a break and then look at a novices’ chase somewhere like Newbury in the autumn.”
Bowen said he plans running Buachaill Alainn over fences, and added: “He’s so tough, but he had been busy enough before running two poor races, so we gave him a break and he’s better for it. He also appreciated this quicker ground.”
