Menorah stamps authority in William Hill Levy Board Peterborough Chase
Menorah made a superb effort to claim the William Hill Levy Board Peterborough Chase (Grade 2) at Kempton in England, despite the fact that he was not given the highest odds for victory by the bookmakers.
The seasoned runner was priced 7 to 2 and had to be at his absolute best in order to shine in the all important contest. He did not choke under pressure and secured the top spot comfortably in the end.
The Irish challenger had been struggling for winning form and things were not easy for him, as he was up against some quality performers. Despite that, he made his team proud by bringing up the fourth victory of his career in this format.
He was steady at the start of the race, but increased his speed after some time. Once he took the lead, no one was able to catch him and he gained a lead of three and a half lengths before crossing the finish line.
Overall, the Philip Hobbs’ trainee has appeared in nine chase events and apart from his four victories, he has finished third on a couple of times as well. This goes onto show that he is quite a decent runner and does not settle for the second best at all.
There was a little concern for him about the weather, as the ground became heavy due to the overnight rain at Kempton. The situation was equal for everyone though, so his team was not worried much.
According to Richard Johnson, who accompanied Menorah in the race, “I don't think any horse wants that ground but he has done it well. He wasn't himself at Exeter but we don't know why - nothing came to light.”
He went onto say, “Hopefully the spring won't be too far away as we always felt he was a good ground horse and there are lots of nice races to go for with him.”
The biggest disappointment of the day was For Non Stop, who was rated as the favourite to succeed in the class-1 battle. He was not even able to come anywhere closer to the top-three and had to settle for the final spot.
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