Cavern Club surges to success in Summer Hurdle at Market Rasen

Cavern Club rolled in with a late run to land the Unibet Same Race Multi Summer Handicap Hurdle for James Owen and Gavin Sheehan.

The chestnut was last seen winning at Chester on the Flat in June, but has plenty of hurdling experience on his CV and was a good runner-up in a Cheltenham novice in November.

He started at 8-1 for his switch of codes at Market Rasen, and after a good round of jumping he reeled in Kihavah to prevail by a length and a quarter, as his stablemate Nibras Gold finished third.

“He won his last start on the Flat and that is something I quite like to do,” said Owen.

“I always thought he was well handicapped, he’s just getting it all together.

“He’s been second at Cheltenham and he’s been running in some decent handicaps.

“On the Flat he wants a fast pace to run at, so we knew the make-up of the race would suit him. He travelled well and Gavin gave him a lovely ride. That was his best jumping performance, he ran very well at Cheltenham, but probably just hit the front a bit too soon.

“He’s got a lot of wins in him, this horse, we’ll have a little break now and then he’ll go back to Chester.

“He likes Chester and he’s got owners up there, then we’ll probably have a go at one of the early Cheltenham meetings.”