festival trials day
Definitly Red and Danny Cook (left) clear the last fence before winning The BetBright Trial Cotswold Steeple Chase Race
Festival Trials Day sees rivals go head to head in the final furlong before the Cheltenham Festival TOP TRIALS ACTION
ALL ROADS IN the National Hunt year lead to The Festival TM presented by Magners, and Cheltenham’s Festival Trials Day, on January 26, is one of the most significant staging posts en route. Broadcast live on ITV, it’s the last Cheltenham race day before The Festival and there’s always an excitable atmosphere. Huge crowds gather to catch a glimpse of Festival contenders, as they show the world what they’re really made of. The 2018 line-up competed for a record £354,000 prize pot across five Graded races. But it was the £100,000 BetBright Trial Cotswold Chase, over the Cheltenham Gold Cup course and distance, that was the day’s highlight. Soft ground brings out the best in the Brian Ellison-trained chestnut, Definitly Red, and he followed up an impressive
Aintree victory in December with an eight-length win here at Cheltenham under Danny Cook. Second was American, ahead of the 7-4 favourite Bristol De Mai. “It has been ages since I had a winner here,” said a joyous Ellison. “You have to have a good horse to come here and Definitly Red is probably the best that I have ever trained. It’s a good place to have a winner! Danny gets on great with the horse and gave him a great ride.” Definitly Red went on to finish a respectable sixth place in the Cheltenham Gold Cup at The Festival. Agrapart then turned the tables on Wholestone, who beat him at Cheltenham on New Year’s Day, in the Grade Two galliardhomes.com Cleeve Hurdle. Trained by Nick Williams and ridden
Nico de Boinville after the Ballymore Classic Novices’ Hurdle
by his step-daughter Lizzie Kelly, French-bred Agrapart clearly relished the step up to three miles and powered away up the hill to win by three lengths. “Agrapart has shaped my career,” said Kelly, “winning the Betfair Hurdle and the (2017) Relkeel Hurdle, and he is such a diamond to look after as well, a
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