Steel Ally was an impressive winner of the Grade 2 Bet Smarter With Oddschecker Kingmaker Novices' Chase at Warwick on Saturday.
13:50 Bet Smarter With Oddschecker Kingmaker Novices' Chase result
1st Steel Ally 10/11 fav
2nd Mirabad 2/1
3rd Mambonumberfive 2/1
Report
Steel Ally was an impressive winner of the Grade 2 Bet Smarter With Oddschecker Kingmaker Novices' Chase at Warwick on Saturday.
Outsider of the three Mirabad cut out the running under Tristan Durrell and made Steel Ally work to get to the front, but once Dylan Johnston got there the result was not in doubt and after a good jump after the last he bounded clear.
Mirabad stuck to his task well but was beaten 10 lengths at the line with a further 17 lengths further back to a below-par Mambonumberfive who didn't jump well for Ben Jones.
Johnston said: "He's been a brilliant horse for myself, Sam and the boss Mr Walters. I'm proud of the horse.
"Tristan wasn't hanging about but I was glad to be with him to put Ben's horse under pressure.
"I was glad where I was, we got in a rhythm and he's not the biggest horse in the world, but he did it nicely. He has form on everything.
"He might [be a nice ride in the Arkle], I've never ridden in an Arkle, but I don't know if he travels well enough for an Arkle. But next year over two and a half miles there'll be plenty of those races for him."
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Latest Arkle betting
Steel Ally looks to have punched his ticket to the Arkle at Cheltenham in March but bookmakers were not blown away by his claims post-Kingmaker, Paddy Power routinely trimming him to 14s from 16/1 in their NRNB market for the novice race.
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