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SCOTTISH CHELTENHAM TRIALS WEEKEND… GRADE 1 SUCCESSES
TIGER ROLL, Gordon Elliott and Davy Russell may have stolen the headlines at Aintree on Saturday by winning the 171st Randox Health Grand National.
But last week’s famous festival on Merseyside also saw two horses with close connections to Musselburgh secure Grade 1 success.
Wednesday 18th April 2018
In winning the Doom Bar Anniversary 4-Y-O Hurdle on Thursday, WE HAVE A DREAM marked himself out as arguably the season’s leading juvenile hurdler.
The Simon Munir and Isaac Souede-owned gelding had already enjoyed success at Grade 1 level, in the Finale Hurdle at Chepstow in January, when champion trainer Nicky Henderson brought him to Musselburgh for our bet365 Scottish Cheltenham Trials Weekend in early February.
Sent off a hot favourite by our racegoers, We Have A Dream lived up to expectations by storming to a four-and-a-half length victory over Act Of Valour in the bet365 Scottish Triumph Hurdle Trial.
That extended We Have A Dream’s unbeaten sequence to four races following his arrival from France last summer and saw him shoot to the top of the ante-post betting for the JCB Triumph Hurdle at Cheltenham.
However, an untimely bout of sickness caused We Have A Dream to miss last month’s Festival; and Henderson, Munir, Souede and regular rider Daryl Jacob were left contemplating what might have been after We Have A Dream powered to a clear-cut win from Gumball at Aintree.
Favourite Apple’s Shakira, who was little more than six lengths behind in fourth at Cheltenham, was beaten nearly three times as far by We Have A Dream at Aintree – suggesting that, had he made it to the start line last month, We Have A Dream would have gone mighty close to winning the Triumph.
Henderson said: “We Have A Dream was a pretty sick horse during Cheltenham week – his manger hadn’t been touched, he had a temperature and, at the time, it was all very frustrating.
“But it may have proved a blessing in disguise in terms of coming here to Aintree because that was a good performance.”
We Have A Dream will now be the given some time off, but will return next season with a view to being aimed at the Unibet Champion Hurdle back at Cheltenham in March.
Henderson added: “He’s a good horse. We’ve got all summer to dream about the Champion Hurdle!”
DIEGO DU CHARMIL already had Cheltenham success on his CV – in the Fred Winter Juvenile Hurdle at 2016 Festival – when he headed to Musselburgh for our Trials Weekend in 2017.
‘Form is temporary but class is permanent’ is a maxim you hear a lot in racing and it couldn’t have been more apt in this instance, as Diego Du Charmil bounced back from a couple of lacklustre runs to power to a decisive victory in the Scottish County Hurdle under jockey Harry Derham.
After finishing 12th in Cheltenham’s County Hurdle the following month, trainer Paul Nicholls opted to send Diego Du Charmil over fences this season.
Things hadn’t exactly gone according to plan, as the six-year-old was beaten heavily at Warwick in February and then fell at Ascot the following month.
But clearly young Derham, a nephew of 10-time champion trainer Nicholls, possesses a Midas touch where Diego Du Charmil is concerned.
Reunited with his old mucker at Aintree on Saturday for the first time since their Musselburgh triumph, the duo picked up where they’d left off by sweeping past odds-on favourite Petit Mouchoir, between the final two fences and then surging to glory in the prestigious Doom Bar Maghull Novices’ Chase.
Although punters may have been stunned by the result, Nicholls certainly wasn’t. “I’m not all surprised,” he said afterwards. “He’s a good horse and progressive, too. He just wants to mature a bit.
“He’s got a load of toe, he jumps well and there’ll be a lot to come from him next season.”
All of us here at Musselburgh will be following both these young horse’s futures closely.
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