Springwell Bay gets back on track with Ascot victory

Springwell Bay ran out an easy winner of the Ascot Racecourse Supports Schools Poetry Competition Novices’ Hurdle to get his career back on the right track.

Second in the prestigious Goffs Land Rover Bumper at the Punchestown Festival in 2021, he was subsequently bought for €155,000.

A winner on his first two outings for Jonjo O’Neill, he was beaten into third at Cheltenham in November by John McConnell’s Fennor Cross but looked a different proposition stepped up in trip.

He travelled noticeably strongly in the hands of O’Neill jnr and loomed upsides the favourite Attacca before bursting clear to win by nine lengths.

The trainer said of the 3-1 winner: “He’s been a a little bit difficult, but Rome wasn’t built in a day. When you’ve got patient owners you can take your time.

“He won’t be going to Cheltenham this year. We’ll make sure what he’s like when he gets back, he needs another run. We don’t know what we’ve got yet but we’re hoping he’s nice. He has had little issues, though.

“We’ve always thought he was a nice horse but he hasn’t matured. We fancied him at Cheltenham, but he checked out going to the second last and we were disappointed.

“That’s a big step in the right direction and the extra distance really helped.”