Henderson taking positives from Lucky Place reverse

Nicky Henderson blamed a lack of race sharpness for Lucky Place’s defeat on his debut over fences at Ascot on Friday.

Winner of the Ascot Hurdle at this meeting 12 months ago, the six-year-old went on to double his Grade Two tally in the Relkeel Hurdle at Cheltenham on New Year’s Day before seemingly having his stamina limitations exposed in the Stayers’ Hurdle at the Festival in March.

Faced with just two rivals, Lucky Place was the 1-2 favourite for his seasonal reappearance and first start over the larger obstacles in the Get Your Ladbrokes Free Ascot Bet ‘Chasing Excellence’ Beginners’ Chase.

Aside from one serious mistake he jumped well in the main and looked the most likely winner as he rounded the home turn in front under Nico de Boinville.

However, he dropped to the rear of the field on the approach to the second fence from home and while he got going again after the last, he had to make do with third place behind the winner Thomas Mor and runner-up Jet To Vegas.

Henderson told Sky Sports Racing: “He’s run like a lot of ours have I’m afraid – they’re having a blow and as Nico said it’s probably happening too late. They’re nearly there, but when you take a blow as late on as that you haven’t got time to get going again.

“He has got going and finished race nicely. It’s disappointing, of course it is, but he’ll have learnt plenty and so have we to be honest.

“We’ve just been caught out again but he will come on a lot for it, that’s the pattern (of our horses) at the moment.

“I don’t think he wants three miles, just talking to Nico there he said if anything you’d come back a tiny bit, rather than go up (in trip), and I’d agree with that. Two-five is probably far enough.”

Thomas Mor (18-5) was providing the in-form training partnership of Philip Hobbs and Johnson White with another victory in the hands of Ben Jones, beating Jet To Vegas by three lengths.

“We’re delighted with that, Ben gave him a positive ride, he was a little bit outpaced in the middle of the race but stayed on very well,” said White.

“He will get further and he will go on softer ground, so we’ve got some nice options for him I hope.

“He had one run over fences last season at Doncaster, but you can put a line through that as the ground was just too quick for him. Conditions were much more to his liking today and he showed he’s still got a serious engine, so it’s great.”