Horse Racing: Aikman beats Minella to claim the Huntingdon meeting
Huntingdon offered some quality racing to the fans of the sport and all those involved in the horse business on Thursday. The Neptune Investment Management Sidney Banks Memorial Novices’ Hurdle was claimed by the talented racehorse Aikman, as he managed
to hold off the rest of the field. The race was run over a distance of 2 miles and 4 ½ furlongs and was open to competitors of age 4 and above.
The way the winner was making it towards the home, made it quite obvious that he would be the champion of the race. Nonetheless, he still went on to struggle with the rest of the colts, especially his most prominent rival Minella Class.
The champion Aikman was sent out to contend the race as a 16-1 favourite. It was interesting to see that the eyes of all the fans and connections were glued to the champion of Grade I events, Minella Class from the very beginning of the race and he stood
out from the other four runners. Aikman had to make some effort to become the centre of attention of the race.
When the contenders headed into the back straight for the last time, the gap between the horses closed. This was the time when the Grade I winner Minella Class was seen to jump his hurdles with a lot of air under the jockey Barry Geraghty.
The winner of the race was ridden by the jockey Harry Haynes, as he was seen under pressure while he led the field into the home straight. Meanwhile on the other hand, the jockey of Minella Class was seen to ride his mount rather nicely and calmly. Minella
Class did not give up on Aikman till the last moment and struggled to clinch the first spot. However, the James Ewart’s trainee made an impressive three length success.
The seven-year old leader, Aikman will be participating in five of the Cheltenham Festival events. His owner, Jim Gordon was reported as saying, “We came here hoping for a good run without expecting to win. We’ll see what James thinks now.”
As for Minella Class, the racehorse also holds an entry for the Stan James Supreme Novices’ Hurdle that will take place at Cheltenham.
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