Ascot has largely managed to buck the trend of falling attendances at Britain’s biggest tracks and its popularity clearly extends to some of its four-legged regulars too. Crambo, last year’s winner of the Grade One Long Walk Hurdle, failed to run to anything like the same level in two subsequent starts at Cheltenham and Aintree in the spring, but on his return here on Saturday Fergal O’Brien’s gelding rediscovered his winning form as he grimly held off the late challenge of Hiddenvalley Lake.
Crambo and Johnny Burke had a head to spare at the line – a slight improvement on last year’s short-head success – and O’Brien, whose horses have been struggling to find their best form in recent weeks, was briefly in tears in the winner’s enclosure as Crambo’s success was confirmed.
