Sceau Royal wins Henry VIII Novices' Chase at Sandown
Sceau Royal caused a minor surprise in a high-class renewal of the randoxhealth Henry VIII Novices' Chase at Sandown.
Beaten by North Hill Harvey at Cheltenham earlier in the season, he turned the tables on Dan Skelton's runner and some other promising youngsters.
Brain Power was the one to aim at as they raced towards the Pond Fence, but Daryl Jacob was sitting motionless on his outside.
As they raced towards the last, Sceau Royal (11/1) had just taken up the running when David Mullins was unseated from Brain Power.
That left Alan King's five-year-old to come home alone, beating North Hill Harvey by 11 lengths.
The major disappointment of the race was Finian's Oscar, who was last of three finishers.
Sporting Life columnist Jacob told ITV Racing: "This lad was awesome today, he pinged his fences.
"I got there too soon and had to take a pull, he loved it.
"We've done the same with this lad as we did with Top Notch, we've brought him along slowly, and it's paying off."
👏Congratulations to our columnist @Dazjacob10
— Sporting Life (@SportingLife) December 9, 2017
🏆 Wins the Henry VIII on Sceau Royal pic.twitter.com/l0NhTYdxQO
King said: "He looked awfully good today. He was in great form coming here but I'd always said to Daryl he's probably 6lb or 7lb shy of the very top, but fences look to have pulled that out of him.
"We were giving weight to North Hill Harvey at Cheltenham, so we were entitled to turn it round and he got a lot of confidence from his win at Warwick (two-runner race).
"They were always going to go a pace, but he was taking a pull almost all the race. Even at the second last I was like 'wait, wait' but he has seen the hill out very well. He has been slick from day one. From Warwick on his debut, he has been very good.
"I will speak to Anthony (Bromley, owner's racing manager) but I wouldn't mind if he went straight to the Arkle. We will see. There might be one run or something but we will leave him alone a bit for now."
Sceau Royal is 6/1 from 25s for the Arkle with Sky Bet, who make Footpad 4/1.
Spokesman Michael Shinners said: "It always looked set to be a cracker and there's no reason to doubt the form of a race which usually works out.
"There's a feeling that everything went right for Sceau Royal, but clearly when that's the case he is capable of extremely high-class form which must make him an Arkle contender - especially as he looks an out-and-out two-mile horse.
"His owners now have the top two in the market and rightly so on what we've seen so far."
Reaction from beaten horses
Skelton's assistant Tom Messenger said of North Hill Harvey: "He has run a stormer in a very competitive race.
"He has jumped well and done everything right, but the winner has probably done us for a bit of toe and obviously we were getting a bit of weight from him when we took him on at Cheltenham.
"He only ran three weeks ago on heavy ground at Cheltenham and I know he won it easily, but it can still take a bit out of them. I wouldn't be afraid of taking the winner on again.
"From the vibe afterwards, Harry (Skelton, jockey) mentioned we should freshen him up and maybe give him one prep run before going to Cheltenham. "
Colin Tizzard indicated Finian's Oscar would now be upped in trip: "We have learnt a lot today. He is not going to be running over two miles again, that's for sure.
"We could have easily waited for next weekend at Cheltenham. We have had two novice chases now where he has just hacked round and jumped adequately and he has been the best horse in the race.
"We just wanted to make him into a racehorse going up in class and jumping fast. It was blatantly obvious to see he was not up to this pace.
"He has hardly done a tap and he is hardly blowing. We learnt a lot about him today. For me he didn't travel as well I thought and something might show up, but he is hardly blowing and I think it just took him out of his comfort zone.
"He just popped round for the last mile."
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