Paddy Power Cotswold Chase report and replay: Ahoy Senor bounces back

For much of the second circuit he looked to be on the back-foot, his less than fluent jumping an Achilles' Heel, but was still in contention turning in as Sounds Russian poured it on up front.

The leader broke the strong-travelling Protektorat who was beaten soon after the second last but Derek Fox aboard the winner was conjuring a rare rattle.

The pair were locked together for 12 strides after the last but Ahoy Senor got on top to win by a length-and-a-half. Noble Yeats was in trouble a long way out but finished best of all in third.

Betfair and Paddy Power cut Ahoy Senor to 10/1 from 50/1 for the Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup with Noble Yeats out to the same price from 7/1 and Protektorat 25s from 8s.

Sky Bet, who are non-runner/no bet, are 12/1 from 40s about the winner with Sounds Russian 20s from 100s. Their Head of Sports PR Michael Shinners said: "That was a strong staying performance from Ahoy Senor. The Boodles Gold Cup looks the obvious next race for him."

Winning trainer Lucinda Russell said: “I’m really pleased. It is just the excitement of having a horse of that quality again. He’s always been good, but he just had to learn about it and today I think he just came of age.

“In my mind, I thought he was going to take a lead and when he came into the paddock, Derek said I’m just going to go forward, and I thought ‘great’, and actually he was right, because it let him get his freshness out of him and then let Frodon give him a lead.

“I’m just pleased with him as I thought his jumping was OK and when he came round that bottom corner and accelerated, I did get a bit excited. I really hope he’ll go to the Gold Cup. Whatever happens, he will definitely get an entry.”

Emotional success for Russell family

The Kinross-based trainer lost her father this week and spoke poignantly in the winner’s enclosure at how much Ahoy Senor had meant to him.

“It is very emotional. My dad was a fantastic person and he was so proud. He’d been ill for a year, I remember being in tears at Newbury when he (Ahoy Senor) won the John Francome Novices’ Chase,” she said. "It was good in a way, because I spent a year saying thank you to dad and I appreciated him.

“As he went on in his life, racing meant more to him. He’d talk to me about about which races we were going to and he’d phone me before the race and after the races and I will miss that intensely. This horse, he was interested in and loved and really wanted him to do well.

“Dad ran down a bit. We had two winners at Kelso and he was a little bit frailer at that point and he only went to hospital for 24 hours.

“To everyone, just say thank you to your dad, just tell them how much they mean to you, because I had the chance to do that. Say thank you. It was dad that set me up, dad that has given me that desire, that determination. He’d be very proud today and I’m really going to miss not phoning him on the way home.”

Jefferson going for Gold

Ruth Jefferson, trainer of runner-up Sounds Russian, said: “We’ve probably learnt a bit from that. He’s still in the Gold Cup and I really wanted to see him do something like that today. He’s entitled to have a go in the Gold Cup, obviously Protektorat and Noble Yeats were a long way ahead of us in the betting for that and we were about 125/1, so we won’t be that tomorrow morning.

"I suppose he’s a horse who could do what he did today and run well in a Gold Cup but whether he’s got the class to win I’m not sure – I think he’d need a lot of things to fall right. I think he’s a solid horse who always runs his race but might just find a Gold Cup horse a bit better than him.

“It’s the first time apart from Hexham – where I ran him unfit – that he’s run up a hill. I know Wetherby has a hill but not like this one though I still wouldn’t question his stamina for a Gold Cup, it’s a but further but I think we just change his running style. The Gold Cup is still under consideration, though I might not have a say in it as I may log on to eight emails from the owners tomorrow morning saying we’re going!"

Yeats and Protektorat teams ponder defeats

Emmet Mullins, trainer of the third-placed Noble Yeats, said: “I’m very happy, he hit the line well and fingers crossed he comes out of the race well so we can take it from there. He didn’t disgrace himself there with the penalties he was giving away to the first and second placed horses, so he’s still exciting going forward.”

Dan Skelton, trainer of the fourth-placed Protektorat (5-4 Favourite), said: “We’re deflated on the day but I don’t think this means anything. It will mean a lot to his price and to the people who talk about him in all the previews leading up to Cheltenham, but in my heart it doesn’t mean anything and we’re still on for the Gold Cup.

“I had to get him really ready for Haydock and I did and I know how to do it, but if you come here as well as Haydock you ain’t going to come out of it in time to go and peak for a Gold Cup. His Haydock run will be overlooked because he’s finished fourth today and been underwhelming but I know why it’s happened. I trusted him and I thought I’d done enough but the evidence suggests that wasn’t the case.

“I was delighted that he stayed on after landing on the back of the last, he could have been out of the picture. He’s sound and happy afterwards and they’re all beating each other in this division. The only one constant is Willie’s horse (Galopin Des Champs) who runs next week, so I still have our hat in the ring. The victor today (Ahor Senor) is a fantastic story, Lucinda (Russell) lost her father in the week and it shows you that sport can write its own pages.”

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