Handstands fended off old rival Jango Baie to win the Virgin Bet Scilly Isles Novices' Chase at Sandown.
Ben Pauling has not enjoyed the best of weeks following the news that one of his stable stars The Jukebox Man was out for the season, however his up-and-coming novice chaser Handstands (10/3) was able to bring some cheer with a gritty short-head win.
Always in the lead or disputing under Ben Jones, the six-year-old was challenged by the 10/11 favourite Jango Baie before the final fence but managed to get the better of a titanic battle up the run-in.
It was the second time that Pauling's charge had got the better of the Nicky Henderson-trained runner-up, the pair having finished first and second in the Sidney Banks Memorial Novices' Hurdle at Huntingdon almost a year ago.
A mistake two-out seemed to knock the stuffing out of Kalif Du Berlais who had travelled well to that point, and he was eventually only fourth behind Mark Of Gold.
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Pauling said: “He is a proper horse and we’ve always known it, it is just unfortunate when we dipped our toe in at Grade One level at Cheltenham last year he was flat as a pancake, I knew that from the second he jumped off that day.
“He’s come out this season and fell at Wincanton on ground that was far too quick and has since not put a foot wrong.
“After he won at Ffos Las, I expected him to be exhausted, but he came out of that race fresher and better than all season.
“We beat Jango Baie in the Sidney Banks last season and he has run a brilliant race in defeat. To make a race, you need two horses and you have to commend Nicky’s horse for running such a race. It was a ding-dong battle and they will be two proper horses going forward.
“We don’t think our lad does much in front, so I wasn’t too worried when Nico (de Boinville, on Jango Baie) came alongside, but it was a proper battle. It was a ding-dong but I was always confident Ben would hold on.
“We’ve had a rubbish week with Jukebox but we’re just very fortunate to have two horses of the same calibre as novices – and hopefully Jukebox will be back as good as new next season.”
Handstands does not hold any entries for the Cheltenham Festival and Pauling is adamant he will resist the temptation to supplement the six-year-old for Prestbury Park and is instead eyeing a step back up to three miles at Aintree later in the spring.
Pauling added: “He will probably go to Aintree. We haven’t got him in at Cheltenham and I can assure you there is unlikely to be any chat of Cheltenham.
“The Radfords are brilliant people to train for and we’ve got a plan and we will stick to it. It doesn’t matter that Jukebox has gone, everything else will not shuffle around. This lad has his own schedule and that is what we will stick to.
“If he’s good enough next year, we’ll be at Cheltenham with bells on, it’s not that he doesn’t handle Cheltenham. It’s just I was determined to bring him here and I tried not to run at Ffos Las – it was Tim (Radford) who said if the horse was healthy to run him there.
“We’ve managed to pull up two nice wins and it might be brave to then try and go to Cheltenham when Aintree could be beautifully timed.”
He went on: “This lad is only going to get better over further, he’s a proper stayer. But he’s got some speed as well and this is very good.”
For jockey Jones it continued his fine season in association with Pauling, adding a second Grade One to his tally having broken his top-level duck at Kempton on Boxing Day.
Jones said: “I don’t think this horse has had enough credit in his career and he’s still not the finished article. He’s raw and a big baby and it’s just exciting to see what he’s going to become.
“I got close to two out and Nico came alongside me, but I gave him an inch of rein and I’ve never experienced a horse take off and quicken the way he did. He’s got so much class and we’ve still not got to the bottom of him.
“It’s racing and there’s ups and downs all the time. I guess you could call him a super-sub for The Jukebox Man and to do what he did was impressive and I’m really happy.”
Reaction of beaten connections
Although losing out to Handstands for the second time, Henderson’s charge Jango Baie lost little in defeat, as his trainer now ponders his next move.
Henderson said: “He was great and has done nothing wrong at all. It wasn’t ideal out there but it was the same for all of them and when you get done a short head it’s six-of-one, half-a-dozen of the other.
“The next question is where to go next and I’m not convinced he wants to go up in trip, but I’m sure he would do better in better ground, but then that is the easiest thing to say after you have been beaten in that ground. He might be better on better ground, but he’s still jumped great and it’s only his second chase.
“He’s definitely a Grade One chaser, it’s just finding out what his trip is. If the Turners was there as a two-and-a-half mile chase, he would be there.
“The winner is waiting for three miles at Aintree and not going to Cheltenham, which is what we were thinking, so we will see.
“The owner has got Jingko Blue, who is going to go to the Reynoldstown, so we will see how he gets on there and if he stays that well, which he should do after Windsor, then we have two nice horses to play around with.”
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