19 April 2018

No Trafic jam!

This Astarabad gelding was well ahead of his fifteen rivals by the first fence in the Barchester Healthcare Silver Trophy Chase at Cheltenham yesterday. The plan seemed to be for the Gary Moore-trained Traffic Fluide to win from the front but Go Conquer and Days Of Heaven had other ideas and challenged him for that role, the latter making the best progress. Coming down the hill, however, Art Of Payroll threw down the gauntlet and, with Traffic Fluide struggling back in sixth position, Bryan Cooper must have thought it was all done and dusted but the eight-year-old Traffic Fluide lived up to his name and glided smoothly up the hill to score by a length and a half.

Speech Marks

It's been over seven months since this Dubawi filly claimed the Lavazza Fillies' Novice Stakes at Ascot, so it was good to see that the Charlie Appleby-trained Soliloquy had not lost her winning ways when she lined up in the Lanwades Stud Nell Gwyn Stakes at Newmarket, recognised as a trial for the Qipco 1000 Guineas. Ridden by William Buick, the 4/1 shot was quickly away and was soon setting the pace for the eleven-strong field. Silvestre De Sousa did his best to get Altyn Orda involved but the eventual winner never really looked in serious trouble and went on to claim the Group Three prize by a length and three-quarters.

'Non, je ne regrette rien!...'

Nigel Hawke, who won the 1991 Grand National aboard Seagram, could have been this year's winning trainer at Aintree and pocketed the £561K prize money but he sold the horse five years ago for what seemed a handsome profit at the time. The Devon-based handler originally bought Tiger Roll for £10,000 in 2013 and even saddled him to win his first ever race, a juvenile hurdle at Market Rasen in November of that year. Then, for some reason, the Authorized gelding was put up for auction at the Brightwells Cheltenham Sale the following month and Michael O'Leary's Gigginstown House Stud snapped him up for £80,000 and his trainer became Gordon Elliott and the rest is history.