The serious money on Saturday was at Newbury, where the 20-1 shot Glory And Fortune picked up £87,000 for his connections in the Betfair Handicap Hurdle, the most valuable race of its type all year. The most serious candidate for Cheltenham, though, was 80 miles away at Warwick, where Edwardstone confirmed himself as that rarest of creatures: a British-trained favourite for a Grade One race at the Festival.
Edwardstone, at 9-4, is only narrowly in front of Blue Lord (3-1) and Riviere D’Etel (9-2), from the powerhouse Irish yards of Willie Mullins and Gordon Elliott respectively, in the betting for the Arkle Trophy, the second race of the Festival meeting on 15 March. After last year’s near-annihilation by the visitors, however, it is something for the home team to cling to.
It is a rare treat too for Alan King, Edwardstone’s trainer, whose last winner at the Festival was 86 runners ago in 2015. Edwardstone features twice in that long losing run, having finished sixth in the Supreme Novice Hurdle in 2020 and fifth in the County Hurdle last season. But as Tom Cannon, his jockey, said after a comfortable success in the Grade Two Kingmaker Chase, “everything he has done all his career has built up to this season for him as a chaser and to improve.”
Cannon eased into the lead on the run to the third-last and was always in command from that point, eventually crossing the line four and a half lengths in front of Third Time Lucki.
“His jumping was electric and he saw it out nicely,” Cannon said. “It’s testament to Kingy and everyone that deals with him on a daily basis that he’s performing the way he is today. There’s no fluke about it.
“He’s the horse of a lifetime. Horses like him don’t come along very often for the things he has done for me this year, two Grade Twos and a Grade One. I’m on a high tide.”
Stan Sheppard, whose record prize money total for a season before the current campaign was £211,000 in 2016-17, took his haul from 2021-22 past half a million pounds as Glory And Fortune held off the late challenge of I Like To Move It in the Betfair Hurdle.
Southwell
1.50 Strike Me A Pose 2.20 Good To Go 2.50 Fine Wine (nap) 3.20 The Dancing Poet 3.50 Aide Memoire 4.20 My Oberon 4.50 Cianciana (nb)
Exeter
2.00 Gustavian 2.30 Doctor Ken 3.00 Stage Star 3.30 Emmpressive Lady 4.00 Snow Leopardess 4.30 Run To Milan 5.00 Altobelli
Sheppard picked up £85,000 for connections, nearly three times more than for any other winner in his career, when Iwilldoit took the Welsh National in December and Glory And Honour’s success increased the figure for his richest win by another £2,000.
There were still nearly a dozen runners within a couple of lengths of the lead as the field went over the second last, but Glory And Fortune had carved out a length advantage by the final flight and stayed on to win by a short head, as I Like To Move It inched ever closer on the run to the line.
Earlier on the card, Eldorado Allen stayed on well on his first attempt at three miles to win the Grade Two Denman Chase, beating Royale Pagaille and Clan Des Obeaux by two-and-a-quarter lengths and 10 after making most of the running.
The grey is currently entered for only the Ryanair Chase, over two-and-a-half miles, at the Festival but Colin Tizzard, his trainer, will discuss the possibility of a supplementary entry for the Gold Cup with his owners.
“We were pretty convinced he was a three-miler,” Tizzard said. “Whether he is a three-mile-and-two horse [the Gold Cup trip] is something else. Any race at Cheltenham is worth winning and he has got to go where he has his best chance. It looks pretty obvious it is the Ryanair, but who knows what the owners will want to do.”
Catterick Bridge
1.00 Sayar
1.30 Just Call Me Al
2.05 Miss Fairfax
2.40 Kannapolis
3.15 Omar Maretti
3.50 You Wear It Well
Plumpton
1.45 Mark Of Gold
2.20 Tigers Roar
2.55 Ubetya
3.30 Full Of Light
4.05 Red Happy
4.40 Gaot
Wolverhampton
5.00 You’re Cool
5.30 Axel Jacklin (nb)
6.00 Diamond Jill (nap)
6.30 Chipiron
7.00 Show Lights
7.30 Society Red
8.00 Dembe
8.30 Subjective Value
Bravemansgame, who lugged top weight to victory in the opening novice handicap chase, and Funambule Sivola, a comfortable winner of the Game Spirit Chase, will also head to the Festival though with very different prospects according to the betting.
Bravemansgame is unchanged at 100-30 second-favourite for the meeting’s three-mile novice chase, while Funambule Sivola is 20-1 to lower the colours of Shishkin and Energumene, among others, in the Champion Chase.
