Sandown Thursday review including victory for Love Envoi

Arriving on the back of a hat-trick of hurdle wins this season, the Westerner mare made light work of the testing conditions to secure the biggest success of her career to date when grounding out victory from the front in the Grade Two feature under Johnny Burke.

Having proving keen early on the 10/11 favourite soon settled into a nice rhythm out in front in the 2m 4f prize before being pursued by chief market rivals Speech Bubble and Nina The Terrier entering the home straight for the final time.

Despite taking the roots out of the second last it failed to stop the momentum of the odds-on favourite who galloped on all the way to the line to defeat Speech Bubble by two and a quarter lengths.

Fry, who won the 2016 renewal with Jessber’s Dream, said: “Watching her go out to racecourse, going down to post and through the race she was doing everything wrong she possibly could.

“Once she got to the front she settled and she kept coming out of his hands. She kicked the second last out of the ground and she has done everything she can to get beat but she has still won.

“Although I’m delighted to win the race I’m not overly pleased the way she has gone about it. She was keen the first day she won for us.

“We dropped back to two miles the last day but we went back up in trip today. To me she was just on her toes even before Johnny got on in the paddock. It was great she won the race but the manner she has done it is not as professional as I’d like.

“We will get her home enjoy this as this was the target. We picked this after Warwick going to Lingfield was a bit of a bonus with conditions to suit. She is four from four for us and has done brilliantly.

“She has done plenty wrong but she has one but there is room for improvement how we got about winning her races. I should be jumping up and down as we have won a Grade Two and that is four on the trot but as much as I’m relieved to win it is that she has gone about it the wrong way which tempers the enthusiasm slightly.

“She just seems to have her own way. If anyone would have said to me at the start of the season we would have won four on the bounce I would have laughed at them.

“I’m delighted with her to have won and kept her unbeaten record but there is room for improvement to say the least."

Following the race Fry hinted that an outing at Cheltenham in the Grade Two Parnell Properties Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle at the Festival™, for which she was trimmed from 12/1 to 8/1 by Paddy Power, could be on the cards.

He added: “She is in that race but it is only over two miles. We will see how she comes out of this as this was the plan. One thing I would say is that it would have to be testing for her to go there.

"The other race that I thought about, which was my first ever Grade One winner with Bitofapuzzle at Fairyhouse, was the Grade One mares novices’ hurdle at Easter. We’ve got options.”

O'Shea pays tribute to Richard Woollacott

Major Charlie O’Shea paid tribute to late trainer Richard Woollacott after securing the most notable victory of his career aboard Rolling Dylan in the Castel Royal Artillery Gold Cup.

The 40-year-old rider, who served with 29 Commando Regiment Royal Artillery for much of his time as a regular, got the perfect tune out of the evergreen 11-year-old in the military amateur jockeys’ prize.

Despite O’Shea hitting the front early than anticipated in the 3m contest it failed to prevent the Philip Hobbs-trained Indian River gelding from claiming his first victory under Rules in almost four years.

After leading for much of the race the 2/1 chance found extra in reserve when it mattered most to defeat last time out Ludlow scorer and 15/8 Favourite Hogan’s Height by a length and a half.

O’Shea, who lives in Hayle, Cornwall, said: “It was brilliant. It didn’t go to plan as we planned to take a lead as he is not always the best in front. The ground wouldn’t have suited him perfectly today either but he was in the right mood and his jumping took us to the front.

“While he was happy there, we just stayed there. Coming up the straight I thought is he going to stop but we judged the pace pretty well and he was happy as Larry. It is great to win it and there was going to be a new winner as none of us in there had won it before.

"The day is amazing, as is the history of it with the amateur nature of the race. It is a great track and a real pleasure to come round and jump a track like this.

"I’ve got to say the late Richard Woollacott set me on a track to come here and I rode a horse for him on my first military race ride. Without him, I wouldn’t be here. The enthusiasm he had for young jockeys and knowledge he had was great. He would only put you up on a horse that knew your ability would suit.”

O’Shea, who for the past five years has served as a naval gunfire liaison officer in the Royal Artillery reserves, hopes he can act as a positive influence to a number of the military personal watching from the stands.

He said: “It is great that the military support these events. The history of these events with the military bring something special to a raceday like this.

“I had ridden as a child and hunted as well but I was 34 when I first had a go at this. I thought I would ride in one of those military races and got chatting to someone in a bar and they said we have a horse but they sold it and that start the ball rolling.

“Half the guys in the stands today would never come racing. Even if a couple of people that come here today get involved it is what the sport needs. In my eyes if we can grow it being involved with it like this it’s great and it is serving a purpose.”

Although O’Shea paid tribute to Woollacott, he was also thanked Grade One-winning trainer Hobbs for providing him with the chance to ride in the race.

He added: “I sold my pub called The Rising Sun just before Christmas so I’ve had a bit of extra time on my hands so I’ve been up to Philip Hobbs’ a few times.

“A massive thank you goes to them for putting me up on him and I’m really pleased to ride a winner as it was my first ride for them. It is nice when you put a bit of effort in and get a bit of payback.”

The victory was also a momentous occasion for Rolling Dylan’s temporary owner Colonel James Ferguson, who leased the gelding from Sarah Hobbs, wife of the winning trainer, for the event.

Ferguson said: “I’ve been trying to get a winner at Sandown for 15 seasons. We’ve owned horses with Philip Hobbs since 2007.

“It is my second attempt at single race leasing of a horse for this race. It has really been quite exciting the second time of leasing to have a winner in circumstances where I wasn’t quite expecting it

“I didn’t think the horse would like the going. As he is 11 years old he either decides it is a going day or not a going day but as you can see he decided it was a going day. The jumping was incredible it was absolutely foot perfect and it gave the leased owner a real thrill.”

Ferguson will now try and persuade Hobbs in allowing him to lease Rolling Dylan for next month’s Grand Military Gold Cup on March 8th.

He added: “That (Grand Military Gold Cup) depends on the trainer and real owner and I’ve not talked to them about it. We always do what Philip says. It might be nice to come back.”

There was further success for both Hobbs and Ferguson on the seven race card after Monviel (15/8 Favourite) added to his recent Wincanton victory when prevailing by a length and a half in the Vigin Bet “National Hunt” Novices’ Hurdle over 2m.

Rest of the action...

Niall Houlihan made sure this campaign will his best in the saddle after eclipsing his previous best seasonal total when celebrating his 18th winner of the campaign aboard Manucci in the opening Virgin Bet Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle (2m).

Having equalled his previous best tally of 17 winners, which he set last season, in January, the 21-year-old moved past that mark after steering Gary Moore-trained 3/1 favourite to a front running 12-length success on his sole ride at the track.

Houlihan said: “Coming here to Sandown today on a Thursday and riding a winner on my only ride is great.

“I had a very good start to the season but as I was never really going to be involved with the conditional jockeys’ championship I just wanted to try on get on some higher quality rides and that was my main aim

“Improvement is key in this game. I’ve not got a set total I’d like to reach I just want to keeping riding as many winners as I can and make plenty of contacts.

Reflecting on his season so far, Houlihan has selected several moments that standout above all others.

He added: “Both my wins on Editeur Du Gite at Cheltenham were special along with riding a treble at Plumpton which is my local track.

“The first leg of the treble was riding a winner for my uncle Pat Phelan which was great.”

Lucinda Russell thanked her partner, the retired eight-time champion Jump jockey, Peter Scudamore, following the victory of Douglas Talking, who maintained his unbeaten record over fences with a three-length success in the “Ubique” Handicap Chase (2m).

Russell said of the successful 15/8 favourite: “It was amazing. I turned to Scu (Peter Scudamore) after he jumped the second and said why are we bringing this horse here as it is only his second time over fences, but that was why as he does jump brilliantly. He is lovely.

"He is just a different horse over fences. He was very keen over hurdles and he wouldn’t settle and we spent a lot of time teaching him how to settle.

"We weren’t sure what distance to run him over so we started him over 2m 4f at Musselburgh a couple of weeks ago. You can see he just gets it and is a much happier horse over fences. We could have gone to Ayr but it is a nice prize Scu said he would be suited by the track and as usual he was right."

The final two races brought up a near 41/1 double for trainer Ben Clarke and jockey Ben Jones, courtesy of Dr Kananga (6/5 favourite) in the Virgin Bet Handicap Chase (3m) and Lettie Lutz (18/1) in the concluding Virgin Bet Novices' Handicap Hurdle.

More from Sporting Life

• Cheltenham Festival 2022
• Racecards
• Fast results
• Full results and free video replays
• Horse racing news
• Horse racing tips
• Horse racing features
• Download our free iOS and Android app
• Football and other sports tips
• Podcasts and video content

Safer gambling

We are committed in our support of safer gambling. Recommended bets are advised to over-18s and we strongly encourage readers to wager only what they can afford to lose.

If you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline / GamCare on 0808 8020 133.

Further support and information can be found at begambleaware.org and gamblingtherapy.org.