Smad Place and Cois Farraig win at Newbury
At Newbury’s Friday meeting, Smad Place and Cois Farraig both took underdog victories ahead of the favourites.
Smad Place ran at 8-1 odds and didn’t struggle against the undefeated favourite Dolatulo, running at 1-4, the horse’s first victory over hurdles in Britain. The Alan King-trained juvenile managed to stick to the heels of Paul Nicholls-trained Dolatulo until
the second last, when the latter horse let up and Smad Place went clear to the win.
The victory saw Smad Place installed as the 12-1 second favourite for Paddy Power’s Triumph Hurdle, and saw Dolatulo drop out of the market for the same Cheltenham Festival event.
“I was starting to get worried we had no smart juvenile this year, but maybe we do after all.” Said trainer King to Racing Post. “He only just shows enough at home, this was quite a surprise. He's not got the speed of a Katchit or Penzance, he's a similar
type to Franchoek.
“The Finale Juvenile Hurdle at Chepstow [December 27] is where we'll take him next and we'll leave future decisions until after that.”
In the same meeting, Cois Farraig, riding at 10-1 odds, managed to beat both the first and second favourites at the Fuller’s London Pride Grade 2 Novices’ Chase. Friday’s five-runner feature was won by the Paul-Webber trained horse ahead of On Borrowed Wings,
both horses beating the two favourites Celestial Halo and odds-on Spirit River.
“What a lovely way to break his maiden,” said Webber. “He's only five but is such a natural and we're very lucky to have him. He's built for courses like Newbury and is the sort who could give Time For Rupert something to think about in the future.”
Barry Geraghty rode Spirit River and the pair led the race until the final fence of the back straight, where the five-year-old didn’t make the jump and fell, uninjured. Second favourite Celestial Halo led from there until the Cois Farraig caught him and
he fell behind after crashing through the top of a hurdle and nearly stopping outright.
Timmy Murphy rode On Borrowed Wings past the second favourite but couldn’t catch Cois Farraig, ridden by Dominic Elsworth. Celestial Halo recovered enough for a third-place finish.
“He was never travelling and we'll send him back over hurdles between two-and-a-half and three miles,” said trainer Nicholls. “Sometimes he jumps but today he apparently hated it.”
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