@CheltenhamRaces Tremendous racing on Festival Trials Day before record crowd - all the news & quotes

Saturday, January 25, 2014 - Festival Trials Day

Going: Heavy, soft in places after 12 millimetres of rain overnight - the third last fence was not jumped because of waterlogging.

Record crowd for Festival Trials Day of 18,783, up from 18,208 in 2013 and previous best of 18,565 in 2012.

Tremendous racing on Festival Trials Day before record crowd

12.40pm Grade Two £30,000 JCB Triumph Hurdle Trial, 2m 1f

Le Rocher (2/1) raced in second to Vincenzo Mio (11/10 fav finished third) and took over the lead after the second last hurdle, running on well to win by 10 lengths from Kentucky Hyden (15/2).

Winning trainer Nick Williams said of Le Rocher when interviewed on Racing UK: "I was absolutely thrilled with his performance - obviously, I would have been devastated if he had been beaten as we think he is very good.

"He did win at Dieppe on good to soft so he doesn't need to have bottomless ground. His hurdling was a bit novice at some of them but generally was good."

Asked about the JCB Triumph Hurdle at The Festival in March, Williams replied: "No decision has been made about that. At the end of the day, it is up to the owners and we will have a chat about it."

Winning jockey Richard Johnson commented: "You would not think he needs soft ground but he handles it really, really well. I was hoping they would go a stride quicker but once he settled into it, he jumped well. He jumped the last two hurdles much the best as we were going quicker.

"I was saying to Nick Williams that the Triumph Hurdle will be a good race for him - a fast-run race like that will really suit him even better. The owners have still to decide what to do. But he is a very nice horse. He never ran on the Flat and so I think he is still improving. He has learned from Chepstow and was better today. He is just getting the idea. I would say the ground is heavy."

1.15pm £25,000 Timeform Novices Handicap Chase 2m 5f

Indian Castle (14/1) got the better of the front-running top-weight Annacotty at the last and although the gutsy runner-up rallied, won by a length and a quarter.

Donald McCain said of his game winner Indian Castle: "He was good today - I was disappointed the way he finished off his last race at Wetherby. He is a grand horse and that was more like his first run - I am very happy.

"The ground has helped over this trip. Jason (Maguire) confused us by saying he did not like the ground at Wetherby - maybe he wasn't himself then. He has looked a different animal the whole way through the race today and saw his race out well. He is a really likeable horse and it is nice to see him back on track.

"The owners will be keen to come back here for The Festival and when you have Cheltenham form there is no reason not to. He is not in the novices - he will be in the novice handicap or one of the handicaps. I think he will be an Aintree horse one day."

Martin Keighley talked about Annacotty: "He ran a cracking race - the way he travelled jumped and he got into a great rhythm. Ian (Popham) gave him a fantastic ride. I am normally very frustrated with seconds but you cannot knock that run. He has carried 11st 12lb and had to give 9lb to Donald's horse. It is a great prep race for The Festival. He is a relentless galloper who does not know how to give up.

"I asked Ian which race we should go for at The Festival. He said if the ground is like this, stick to the two and a half mile novice (JLT Novices' Chase). He has a high cruising speed and can just blaze away. If it is good ground, we will go for the RSA. We will now get him fresh and well for The Festival."

1.50pm £50,000 freebets.com Trophy Handicap Chase 2m 5f

Top-weight Wishfull Thinking (9/1) challenged the favourite Double Ross (3/1 fav) after the last and kept on strongly up the hill to score by a length and three quarters.

Winning trainer Philip Hobbs said: "He has won here in heavy before but he is a better horse on good ground. I thought Double Ross was going to beat us easily. We were thinking of the Kempton Park Chase but that is out of the window now. We are likely to be back in conditions races now so Aintree is probably the place for him. He loves it there - the flat track - and he always runs well. He is 11 now and I still don't know if he wants two miles or three miles. He is very good."

Richard Johnson, celebrating a double, commented: "He settled very well and the stable is in great form, which makes my job easier. He really battled up the run-in today. I thought the weight might tell in the last 110 yards - fair play to him, he has stuck at it really well. To win at Cheltenham again today is a great performance. The second horse is a very good benchmark. His wind is always a bit of an issue."

2.25pm £100,000 Grade Two Argento Chase 3m 1f 110y

The Giant Bolster (6/1) won for the third time out of the last four runnings of the Festival Trials fixture, taking the feature £100,000 Grade Two Argento Chase by seven lengths from 6/4 favourite Rocky Creek, with Harry Topper (6/1) a head away as a staying-on third.

The winning trainer David Bridgwater said: "We have been scratching our heads. At home, The Giant Bolster has been better than ever but on the course for whatever reason he hasn't done it until today. The hood and visor have helped and he loves it at Cheltenham.

"A winning ride is always brilliant. The Giant Bolster has been placed in two Cheltenham Gold Cups - he is a good horse. In reality he was a bloody certainty today but was he? He deserved to win a big one. This is the third time he has won at this meeting. If we can come back to the Gold Cup, he must have an each-way chance because he does perform around here. This morning I was saying we should not run him but the owner Simon (Hunt) wanted to. That is the beauty of racing - you cannot get it right all the time. The hood gets him away from the hustle and bustle of the race. It has worked out wonderful. I could not survive another race before the Gold Cup. It is beyond brilliant - we have equalled our best season now and to win a race like this is what dreams are made of."

Tom Scudamore, the winning rider, said: "I am delighted for Bridgie and all the owners - they have never lost faith in him. They are willing to try something different with the headgear and it is has worked today. I am delighted - he has always been a good horse - it has been getting his head right. He is a bit like the trainer - a bit odd. I have got to say thank you for David (Pipe) in flying me from Doncaster. It has worked out fantastically."

Kim Bailey said of Harry Topper: "He is all guts - a remarkable horse. He has given 10lb to the winner and 5lb to the second. He is not built to be a racehorse. I thought he jumped better today. His problem is if he is on the wrong stride, he goes slowly into the fence to put himself right but that's him - he is a very ungainly individual. I think the cheek pieces worked and Jason (Maguire) felt he jumped better than he has ever done. I was thrilled with the horse - to me he is only a baby."

3pm £30,000 Grade Two Neptune Investment Management Novices' Hurdle 2m 4f 110y

Red Sherlock (9/4) maintained his unbeaten record when seeing up Irish challenger Rathvinden (6/4), with Aubusson (7/1) in third, in a splendid finish to the £30,000 Grade Two Neptune Investment Management Novices' Hurdle.

David Pipe trains the five-year-old for the Johnson Family and he said: "Lady Cricket (the dam) was fantastic and she has got rather a good one here. He is as honest as they come and a very good horse. We will enter him in the Neptune Investment Management Novices' Hurdle and the Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle at The Festival and see what the ground is like. He seems to take his races well."

Tom Scudamore, celebrating a double, declared: "He has done it very, very well. It is great to get back on him and he has done everything we have ever asked of him. He has taken the step up in class in his stride and it was a good performance. He will handle any conditions - he is a very good horse."

3.35pm £60,000 Grade Two galliardhomes.com Cleeve Hurdle 3m

This race was notable for the comeback of Big Buck's (6/5 fav), the four-time Ladbrokes World Hurdle winner, after over a year off. Ridden by Sam Twiston-Davies for the first time, trained by Paul Nicholls and owned by the Stewart Family, the 11-year-old finished third when caught on the run-in by 66/1 chance Knockara Beau, winning for the first time at the course on his 16th attempt and beating At Fisher's Cross (5/1). The winning margins were a short-head and three quarters of a length.

George Charlton, the winning trainer, commented: "I was thrilled to bits with the victory but it was a very close thing. I wasn't sure he was going to win - I shouted and got the weighing room upset.

"He needs to front run but couldn't with Big Buck's in the race. We had a little wind operation on the horse - because he has been dropping his soft palate and hitting a fence coming down the hill. Three years ago he had a wind operation and then I had it done again by Ben Brain who has done a fantastic job. The horse did not drop his soft palate today. He was given a breather, went through the flat spot and got the confidence. This is why I ran him in the hurdle and off he went, galloping in his usual fashion up the hill. We are 30lb behind them in the handicap.

"We buy them as foals and bring them on slowly and Tidal Bay has been the star so far. We had some other good horses as well. The plan had been to go to the Kelso race on February 15 and then come back here in March - I have him in the Gold Cup and may just run him for the sake of it."  

The winning rider, Czech Republic jockey Jan Faltejsek, twice successful in his homeland's top race, the Velka Pardubicka, in 2013 and 2012, was thrilled with his first victory at Cheltenham, the Home of Jump Racing.

He said: "Knockara Beau was always placed here - a leading horse in Grade Ones and very consistent - but not able to win one at Cheltenham. We have got a winner now. We have both learnt and hopefully we can keep winning races here. I am over the moon.

"He is tough and hard. I have won the big Pardubice race twice in my home country but to win a race at Cheltenham is better - I am so happy I have won today."

Paul Nicholls, Big Buck's trainer, said: "I am thrilled with him. He travelled with his old zest and jumped well - he just got a bit tired from the last. It is very testing ground.

"We could have easily took him out and saved him for another day but I was desperate to get a run into him before The Festival. It is second time he has been on grass since he last ran and I would have liked to have got another racecourse gallop into him. He has just got tired - that will improve him enormously. Obviously, we would have liked to have won but that will put him bang on for his next run when the ground won't be as bad as that."

Sam Twiston-Davies added: "We haven't hidden him and gone forward - he has travelled brilliantly and he has jumped great. It was just the last 50 yards - he got a little bit tired. He has had a year off and all the others had benefited from a run. I promise you he will run a massive race in the World Hurdle. Everyone expects so much from this horse because he has won 18 on the bounce. He is a horse at the end of the day - he is as likely to take a run and improve from it as any horse. He will come on from today. He felt very special as we all know he is."

The next racing at Cheltenham is The Festival, which takes place on four days between Tuesday, March 11 and Friday, March 14, is the next racing at Cheltenham.

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