party Join the feature | new year’s day I T will take more than a bit of bad weather to keep the Cheltenham faithful away. Despite atrocious wind and rain which made ITV Racing’s first live broadcast a challenge, more than 30,000 still arrived at the long-standing New Year’s Day fixture to freshen up from the previous evening’s festivities. The meeting provided another major milestone for Lizzie “This horse is a legend,” said Lizzie of Agrapart. “I knew he had a great shout. We came in quietly at 16-1 but the way he won the Betfair, I knew he’d stay further.” Williams was full of praise for Lizzie, too. “It was a brilliant ride. She is very strong in a finish, there is no question about that.” The day saw another notable achievement by Willy Twiston-Davies, who celebrated his first Cheltenham winner.The young rider had looked pa r t y o n i n s t y l e . . . n e w y e a r ’ s d a y r a c i n g a t c h e lt e n h a m p r o m i s e s g r e a t e n t e r ta i n m e n t f o r a l l t h e fa m i ly
FAMILY FUN DAY
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Kelly, who had burst to prominence by beating Sir Tony McCoy on this day two years earlier. Since then she has become the first woman to win a grade one over fences and was to add another aboard Tea For Two at Aintree, as well as riding in the Timico Cheltenham Gold Cup. On this particular afternoon she stole the show with a double
certain to claim the 2011 Foxhunter on Baby Run before being unseated at the second-last fence and had been concentrating on the flat for much of the intervening period. Aboard his father Nigel’s Cogry, he ground out a neck victory over Rocklander in the BetBright Casino Handicap Hurdle. Some of the other
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and a tight finish as Davy Russell and Whisper edged out Sam Twiston-Davies and Clan Des Obeaux. To continue the local theme, Twiston- Davies’ neighbour Fergal O’Brien continued the bright impression he has been showing as a trainer by preparing Cap Soleil for the Listed EBF Stallions & Cheltenham Pony Club Standard Open NHF Race. There was a long wait in near darkness as stewards looked into possible interference with narrow runner-up Daphne Du Clos, but once the announcement was made that the filly would keep the race, the O’Brien team could continue their party.
diary dates New Year’s Day, January 1, 2018
out runners from his base at Strensham for only a month. “I started off with Nigel Twiston-Davies and he was great to me,” said Sam. “I rode my first winner for him, then moved to Fergal O’Brien and rode all his point-to-pointers and learnt a lot there. “Katie Mould, after Mr Mould sadly passed away, asked whether I would be interested in any of the horses and this horse was one I could afford.” Jockey Robbie Dunne was pleased to repay a favour. “Sam and I are good mates,” he said. “He got me the ride on Wayward Prince
headed by Agrapart, the horse on which she had landed Newbury’s valuable Betfair Hurdle.The 16-1 chance struck on a head in front of favourite L’Ami Serge in the £40,000 Dornan Engineering Relkeel Hurdle. Lizzie had also combined with her stepfather Nick Williams to collect the Listed Neptune Investment Management Novices’ Hurdle through the impressive Coo Star Sivola.
when the horse won the Scottish National so I owe him a lot.” The most valuable event of the day, the £60,000 BetBright Best For Festival Betting Handicap Chase, also went to an outsider in the shape of Shantou Flyer. There was only a small field for the BetBright Dipper Novices’ Chase but it developed into a fascinating tactical duel
winners were pretty hard to find, no more so than the 50-1 shot Tour Des Champs, trained by a man the Twiston-Davies family know well.The horse, which used to be owned by the late Raymond Mould before carrying the colours of the appropriately-named Prestbury Racing Club, made a good start for new handler Sam Drinkwater, who had been sending
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