Iberico Lord makes winning start to chase career

Nicky Henderson believes “needs to learn a bit more” before being stepped up in class following a successful debut over fences at Kempton.

Making his first appearance since being pulled up in the Champion Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival in March, last season’s Greatwood and Betfair Hurdle winner was a 13-8 shot for the ‘Book Christmas Festival Hospitality Now’ Beginners’ Chase.

Harry Fry’s Gidleigh Park, a Grade Two-winning novice hurdler last term, was the marginal favourite at 10-11, but made mistakes at the fourth and fifth obstacles and was swiftly pulled up by Bryan Carver, with a subsequent stewards’ report revealing the six-year-old was found to have an irregular heartbeat.

With The Four Sixes struggling from the home turn before also being pulled up, it was a straight shootout thereafter as Iberico Lord moved into the slipstream of Leave Of Absence, who put up a bold show on his first competitive outing in 758 days.

However, he was powerless to resist Henderson’s charge, whose jumping warmed up in the latter stages of a two-and-a-quarter-mile contest that has previously been landed by Seven Barrows aces Altior and Shishkin. The winning margin was a length and a half.

“He started the race looking like a hurdler and finished it looking like a steeplechaser and that’s what it’s all about. It’s got to be education, education, education and I think that’s what happened – he learnt all the way,” Henderson told Racing TV.

“As Nico (de Boinville) said, when he’s going that little bit quicker he’s finding it easier. I hope Gidleigh Park’s all right as that would have been mighty interesting for sure. I feel sorry for Harry because he’s obviously a high-class horse and we’re not to know what would have happened.

“It’s always been a good race. The original plan was to bring Sir Gino here, we are going back to the hurdle route with him for the moment, but both Shishkin and Altior started here.

“He (Iberico Lord) could do with another race like this, I know they’re boring but that’s how we make them at the end of the day. If you want chasers they’ve got to come through the system and he needs the education.

“The Wayward Lad round here wouldn’t be the worst thing, but I wouldn’t be in a rush to go round Ascots and Cheltenhams with him I must admit. I think he needs to learn a bit more.”

Dan Skelton’s stamped her class on the Racing TV Mares’ Hurdle.

The seven-year-old was a 1-2 favourite off the back of finishing third in the bet365-sponsored West Yorkshire Hurdle at Wetherby three weeks ago and the most of an ease in class and going back against her own sex with a two-and-three-quarter-length verdict in this Listed event.

Skelton said: “We could possibly go for the new race at Doncaster on December 14 (Doncaster Mares’ Hurdle), we’ll see how the weather turns up for her there.

“Today it was soft enough for her, but she just had the numbers above her rivals to cope with it. We got her beat in the race last year when it was three miles, so it was a sensational bit of work from the race planning team!

“Some days it suits you and some days it doesn’t. I’m sure I’ll be here one day with a mare that wants three miles over two and a half, but two and a half today really suited her.

“She’s had a couple of goes in those handicaps at Aintree and maybe it’s time to let her have a go in the Grade One if conditions really suit.”