The Harry Fry-trained Gidleigh Park got his career back on track with a tenacious victory over odds-on favourite Caldwell Potter in the Grade 2 Lightning Novices' Chase.
The seven-year-old son of Walk In The Park, a promising novice hurdler last season, was found to have been suffering from an irregular heartbeat when pulled-up on his chasing and seasonal debut at Kempton in November but, given plenty of time to recover and a clean bill of health by Fry, Gidleigh Park came back to form to defy odds of 15/2 in the hands of Bryan Carver.
The expensively-purchased and much-talked-about Caldwell Potter tracked the front-running winner through the early stages and the 4/6 shot looked to have been delivered to mount a strong challenge by jockey Harry Cobden between the third-last and penultimate fence.
However, he didn't find as much as seemed likely and it quickly became clear the brave Gidleigh Park was going to be a hard horse to pass and he found extra after the last to win by four lengths.
Personal Ambition (5/1) was a further 19 lengths back in third, while 4/1 chance You Wear It Well was on the back foot from the start and could make no impact whatsoever having made mistakes at several of the fences.
Paddy Power and Betfair introduced the winner at 20/1 for the Arkle Challenge Trophy at Cheltenham in March.
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Fry said: “It has been a testing time, but we are here and back where we want to be and that is what it is all about.
“The overriding feeling is relief. I’m absolutely delighted to see him come out and jump, gallop and hit the line hard, which is what we know he can do, but after the last day we needed to see him doing it on the track.
“Winning is what the game is all about, but it was very much the icing on the cake today. It was nice to see him put in a good round of jumping and come home strongly. The dream is alive again.
“A lot of hard work has gone into getting him back here today from the whole team at home. Thankfully they had to do nothing and he reverted (from his irregular heartbeat) on his own accord. Celia Marr, who doesn’t need any introduction, is a world renowned expert in these things and she has given us invaluable advice the whole way through. It is great that a lot of hard work has paid off. Bryan Carver was brave and made the only decision that needed the last day and that was to pull him up, but still it was a brave decision to do, but he knew the horse and that he wasn’t right.
“Because of his actions we are back here now in January back on a racecourse and back in the winner’s enclosure. It is onwards and upwards for the rest of the season. It was about coming through today first and foremost. We have only done the bare minimum really to this point to make sure everything has gone smoothly as we have gone back through the gears.
“We knew whatever he did today that there would be improvement to come. This wouldn’t naturally be a track that would suit him as he is a big galloping horse. To do that today was fantastic. It was a long journey home that day for sure, but they are the ups and downs of the game and we were hopeful we would get him back.”
Potter team ponder Grand Annual option
Nicholls said: “He ran a nice race. Harry (Cobden) said he is a very nice horse, but not a champion and I would nearly echo that. The track is probably tight enough for him, but there are no excuses as he came there to win two out and he didn’t.
“It might be worth sticking him in something like the Grand Annual. He is not easy to train, and he has issues in they spring and that is why I couldn't run him, and I still have issues with him all the time with his feet. He likes that ground (soft) so you wouldn’t run him on quick ground. I still can’t work out what trip he wants. I said to Harry was that trip alright and he said he didn’t know without looking at it again.
“I’ve just said to the owners he is a very nice horse, but that he is not a champion. We have just got to box clever with him and he will win plenty of races. The lads were a bit unfortunate that they lost Hermes Allen on the Saturday and ended up buying him between six of him. If you look at his Grade One the horse he beat hasn’t done much since, but you can always look back and you have got to forget price tags.
“He is a nice horse and we will win plenty of races with him, but they have got to be the right races on the right day. He jumped great today, and he came there, but he flattened out. He wants ground like that on a stiffer track.”
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