A round-up of Sunday's action from Exeter including a victory for Dan Skelton's Wilde About Oscar.
Wilde About Oscar secured the biggest success of his career by returning to winning ways with a clear cut victory in the Bet At racingtv.com Novices’ Hurdle.
The Dan Skelton-trained six year old was pulled up on his Grade One debut in the Challow Hurdle at Newbury but bounced back here in calmer waters to take the feature Listed prize at Exeter.
Sent straight into the lead by Harry Skelton, the 16/5 chance maintained a healthy advantage throughout the 2m 1f contest before defeating even money favourite The Glancing Queen by seven and a half lengths.
The winning trainer, speaking away from the track, said: “That was lovely. I don’t know what happened in the Challow Hurdle. He hit the fourth last then stopped. I don’t know whether he gave himself a dead leg but that was good to get him back on track.
“He showed a good attitude on the ground and his jumping was good, even though he jumped left a little, but we always felt he was up to this grade.”
Echoing Skelton’s thoughts was his brother and winning rider Harry, who believed this success can be an important victory in Wilde About Oscar’s career.
He said: “He is a decent horse. He just made a bad mistake in the Challow Hurdle and that just stopped him. He is a work in progress this horse. You can see at his hurdles he is not the most fluent jumper.
“Today the track and ground was important as it was slow and it slows everything down for him. He has got a big engine. It is going to take time to see this horse at his best.”
Although Wilde About Oscar holds an entry in the Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle at next month’s Cheltenham Festival, which he was cut from 40/1 into 25/1 by Paddy Power, the Alcester handler claimed future plans remained fluid.
Dan Skelton added: “I don’t know what we are going to do next. We will just sit and think for a second. If we didn’t think he was good enough for a Cheltenham entry we wouldn’t have given him one and the race is there to have a look at.
“For a horse to go so well through that ground it gives us plenty of options. I see him staying over hurdles next season as I think there is still business to be done.”
Class rise on cards for Pipe improver
Martinhal made it two wins from as many visits to Exeter with a tenacious front-running success in the opening division of the British Stallion Studs EBF “National Hunt” Novices’ Hurdle.
Having opened his account over hurdles at the Devon track on his previous start, and first since a wind operation, the David Pipe-trained six year old followed it up when taking a step back up in trip to an extended 2m 2f in his stride.
Despite being pressed late on by eventual runner-up Solwara One, the 4/1 chance found more when asked by Tom Scudamore to hold on by a head.
Pipe said: “It was a lovely performance and he is a horse we have always liked. He disappointed after his first two runs over hurdles as he never really finished his races but the wind operation has helped him.
“He is a horse with a lovely attitude and has a lovely way about going about things. The second is a decent horse he beat.”
Although Martinhal does not hold any entries at the Cheltenham Festival the Pond House Stables handler will consider stepping him up in class.
He said: “To me he is a three miler but he never finished those first two races so we dropped him back to 2m 1f here last time and stepped him back up a little bit further today.
“We’ve not got any plans as he needed to get two good runs together. Now he has we can think a bit bigger.”