STEEL Ally (11-10 favourite) made it three wins from as many starts over fences at Warwick when coming home the comfortable winner of the Grade Two Bet Smarter With Oddschecker Kingmaker Novices’ Chase.
Partnered by Dylan Johnston, the eight-year-old raced in second of the three runners for most of the two-mile contest. Taking the lead jumping the second last, he went on to score by 10 lengths from Mirabad with 17 lengths back to Mambonumberfive in third.
Flagship Uberalles (1999), Voy Por Ustedes (2006) and Edwardstone (2022) all won the race before going on to victory in the Grade One Singer Arkle Novices’ Chase at the Cheltenham Festival and Steel Ally is now 14-1 from 16-1 for that race with Paddy Power.
Successful trainer Sam Thomas said: “I was in the doctor’s car on the way round as I’m a terrible watcher and was just getting a bit of a different angle. It was quite a nice way to watch a race – I’ll look forward to watching it again now on the big screen.
“He got out of the ground OK but didn’t jump as well as he possibly can do and just got a bit deeper in. He is a lovely horse and we are very lucky. It is nice to keep him unbeaten and keep the ball rolling.
“I said to Dylan make sure you don’t cut each other’s throats because he can have his own ideas about things as we’ve seen in the past, although he’s grown up a lot. There were only three runners, but you couldn’t not be impressed by that.
“He has a ticket for the Arkle and it’s all down to what happens between now and Cheltenham with the other horses. The boss (owner Dai Walters) is at home as he’s had a bit of a knee operation and hopefully this is a nice boost for him. It will be a nice chat to have (about Cheltenham) and we have the option should we wish to go there.
“Spring ground would not worry me at all. He is a very, very good mover and as we saw in Ireland at the Dublin Racing Festival, some of the Doctor Dinos proved they can handle the heavy. I don’t think it matters what ground this lad has. If anything, it will probably mean he will want to go further if the ground is on the quicker side. I don’t think he is ground dependent and he has shown that over the past couple of seasons.
“Al Dancer was rated 159 for us when he retired and this horse was off 150, so he’s very exciting. It is nice we can target these bigger races and plot the season with him. It is exciting for me as a trainer as half the job is training them and doing the race planning is the other side. I am very lucky.”
There was a second Grade Two race on the card with the Weatherbys Cheltenham Festival Betting Guide Jane Seymour Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle, which moved to Warwick following the abandonment of Sandown Park on Friday.
It was Kingston Queen (5-1) who came out on top in the two miles and three furlongs contest. The David Pipe-trained six-year-old took the lead turning for home. Showing signs of inexperience approaching the last, she surrendered the lead on the run in before getting back up for a three-quarter length success over White Noise.
Successful jockey Conor O’Farrell said: “In fairness, for the whole race we were going a stride slower than I wanted to ideally, but I also just felt she would have been too idle to go forward on.
“It turned into a bit of a dash which isn’t really her forte but in fairness she kept finding and picking up.
“She is a beautiful filly and when I went back to her bumper form I wasn’t really worried about her speed. She ran to a very high level in her bumpers and is carrying that on in her hurdling career – fingers crossed she can keep going.
“There was a lot to look at, and she had a good look around but there was plenty left in the tank for her to be doing that.”
On a possible challenge for the Grade Two Ryanair Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival, O’Farrell said: “If it dries out, she might lack a gear but she is entitled to go for it off of that.”
This latest success was a 400th in the UK for O’Farrell and he paid tribute to David Pipe.
O’Farrell continued: “It’s great – I knew I was close to it but wasn’t sure that was it! I moved over to David Pipe’s back in October 2010 and it is fantastic to still be riding for him and riding big winners.”
The Listed Get The Best Odds With Oddschecker Warwick Mares’ Hurdle over two miles and five furlongs went to 5-4 Favourite Hollygrove Cha Cha, who made all under Gavin Sheehan to win by four lengths from Jubilee Alpha.
Winning trainer Jamie Snowden said: “We were slightly fortuitous because we were going to go to Exeter for the Listed novice chase there on Sunday, but luckily we were also entered here and when Exeter looked likely to be called off, we re-routed and came here.
“She loves that ground and won the Jane Seymour at Sandown last year on very soft ground – she relishes it and stays very well.
“We went to Cheltenham last year for the mares’ novices’ hurdle and it didn’t work.
“There are plenty of nice races outside of Cheltenham, so we’ll just have a little think about where we go from here.
“Hurdles or fences, I don’t think it matters.
“It didn’t work at Windsor the last day over fences but she wasn’t really experienced enough for a big handicap like that and found the track a little bit sharp and tight.
“She is a very good jumper and I think we’ll swap and change between hurdles and fences depending on when the race comes up.”
