Falcon swoops for Meyrick glory at Wetherby
It may be 364 days before he hangs his stocking again, but there were no St Stephen's Day blues for Peter Maddison as Lothian Falcon flew to victory in the £50,000 skybet.com Rowland Meyrick Handicap Chase at Wetherby.
The North Yorkshire track’s festive highlight attracted only six runners, with higher-rated entrants side-stepping the contest, yet an open race looked in prospect with last year’s winner Leading Man among the opposition.
However, the buoyant crowd sent off Maddison’s pride and joy the well-supported 2-1 favourite and the eight-year-old’s supporters never had the slightest of worries.
After travelling much the best from some way out, Lothian Falcon took over with a grand leap at the fourth-last and powered up the long home straight to hold a rallying Leading Man (6-1) by six lengths.
A delighted Maddison said: “If someone had told me at the start of the season that I would train the winner of the Rowland Meyrick, I would have laughed at them.
“We’ve given this horse some silly entries in the hope he’d sneak into one of these good races and I’m so pleased he got into this one.
“I told Robert (Walford) to go for the better ground and I was really pleased when I got here and found it was so good.
“It’s just fantastic to win a race like this when you’re only training a couple of horses.
“He’s by an unfashionable sire but we bought him unbroken as a four-year-old at Doncaster and he was one that gave you a good feel right from the start.
“We’ll possibly look at the Great Yorkshire Chase now, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we put him away for the spring as he needs decent ground.”
Keith Mercer may have had to settle for second on Leading Man but the pilot still enjoyed a tremendous afternoon as he registered a 306-1 double courtesy of Slavonic Lake and Hold The Bid.
The former defied a price tag of 40-1 in the opening St. John Ambulance “Caring For Life” Handicap Hurdle, while the latter struck at odds of 13-2 in the New Bramham Hall For Conferences & Banqueting Novices’ Handicap Chase.
In holding off Sea Cadet by one and a half lengths, Hold The Bid was providing Mercer with his first win for trainer Sue Smith.
And just 30 minutes later, 11-1 chance Nirvana Swing stuck on too gamely for his rivals in the TurfTV Handicap Chase to secure the same honour for Peter Buchanan.
After the six-year-old held off Jimmy Bond to secure an 89-1 double for the Smith yard, the trainer’s husband Harvey said: “He’s an ex-Paul Nicholls horse and he’s only six.
“He’s my hack at home and I ride him out nearly every day.”
Howard Johnson’s Albany made light of a 627-day absence to win the Bet & Watch At skybet.com Handicap Hurdle.
Sent off at 17-2, the seven-year-old was always travelling kindly for Denis O’Regan, who only had to nudge his partner out for a five-length call over Reel Charmer.
Johnson said: “He’s a funny little horse and he’s always been decent, but he’s just had leg trouble.
“We had him fired and he’s a really good little horse and has won first time out before. It’s great for Gordon (Brown, part-owner) as he doesn’t live far away.”
While the Wetherby faithful could pick Albany out some way from home, the same could not be said for Onefourfun (4-1), who took the Come Racing Again Here Tomorrow Novices’ Handicap Hurdle by an easy 13 lengths in virtual darkness.
