Sunday's racing round-up includes a possible Stayers' Hurdle tilt for Melbourne Cup eleventh Vauban...
Lambourn trainer Nicky Henderson has expressed his disappointment after classy Grade 2 winning novice hurdler Jeriko Du Reponet was pulled up on chasing debut at Sandown. The JP McManus owned five-year-old's reluctance to be saddled caused a ten-minute delay to the start. Henderson's charge looked uncomfortable throughout, putting in an exaggerated leap at the first ditch before making a crashing error four out after which jockey Nico De Boinville opted to pull his mount up. Anthony Honeyball's Brookie emerged the eventual winner, ridden by Sam Twiston-Davies.
Trainer Willie Mullins alluded to a possible Stayers' Hurdle tilt with Melbourne Cup eleventh Vauban. The Rich Ricci owned gelding holds some smart hurdling form, having won the Triumph Hurdle in 2022 and placed fourth behind Constitution Hill in the 2023 renewal of the Champion Hurdle. Winner of the Group 2 Lonsdale Cup at York on the flat, he was second behind superstar stayer Kyprios in the Group 1 Irish St Leger before a run in Australia. Bookmakers have made the six-year-old a general 14/1 for the Cheltenham event.
A possible accident was avoided during the last race at Chelmsford on Saturday evening, when the starting stalls remained on the course due to a tractor malfunction. While nobody was harmed in the incident, jockeys were forced to quickly pull up their mounts to avoid a collision. Chelmsford bosses have issued an apology to all connections and a BHA inquiry is set to take place to address the episode.
Former French jockey Gerald Mosse made a dream start to his training career, when taking a first success in the Solitude Listed Stakes at Saint Cloud. It was a third career-win for 25/1 shot Grand Stars, formerly trained by Gianluca Bietolini, who had been bought by connections with Black Type prizes in mind.
