Sandown report: Love Envoi lands Grade Two honours

Love Envoi did plenty wrong but still managed to gain a fourth successive victory in taking the Weatherbys Cheltenham Festival Betting Guide Jane Seymour Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle at Sandown.

Harry Fry’s six-year old relishes deep winter ground and the heavy conditions at the Esher track played to her strengths, as they had done at Lingfield on her previous outing four weeks ago.

Love Envoi was keen in the preliminaries and during the race, yet when she did finally settle after pulling herself to the front down the back straight she rarely looked like being beaten.

Fry said: "I should be jumping up and down as we have won a Grade Two and that is four on the trot, but as much as I’m relieved to win it is that she has gone about it the wrong way which tempers the enthusiasm slightly.

“She just seems to have her own way. If anyone would have said to me at the start of the season we would have won four on the bounce I would have laughed at them.

“I’m delighted with her to have won and kept her unbeaten record but there is room for improvement to say the least.

“She was very keen the first day she won for us. Obviously, we dropped back to two miles the last day and we were back up in trip today. She was on her toes even before Johnny got on her and while it is great we won the race, the manner in which she has done it was not as professional as I would like – far from it.

“We will enjoy this. A win is a win. We will worry about it the next day.”

On future plans, Fry said: “She is in the mares’ (novices’) hurdle at Cheltenham. It is only over two miles, but we will see how she comes out of this. Today was the plan. The one thing I would say is that it would have to be testing to go there.

“The other race we thought about was the Grade One mares’ novice at Fairyhouse at Easter, which we were lucky enough to win with Bitofapuzzle (in 2015). So we have options. We won a Class 2 the last day, we won a Grade Two today.

“We have made the most of conditions. After Warwick, we were going to come here, but we thought what is the point of waiting seven, eight weeks when she is a soft ground horse. Lingfield fitted in well. Maybe that’s why she has had fairly quick runs back-to-back. But we’ll see. There are some fairly nice options to be mulling over, that’s for sure.”

Major Charlie O’Shea paid tribute to late trainer Richard Woollacott after securing the most notable victory of his career aboard Rolling Dylan in the Castel Royal Artillery Gold Cup at Sandown Park.

The 40-year-old rider, who served with 29 Commando Regiment Royal Artillery for much of his time as a regular, got the perfect tune out of the evergreen 11-year-old in the military amateur jockeys’ prize.

After leading for much of the race the 2-1 chance found extra in reserve when it mattered most to defeat 15-8 favourite Hogan’s Height by a length and a half.

O’Shea, who lives in Hayle, Cornwall, said: “It was brilliant. It didn’t go to plan as we planned to take a lead as he is not always the best in front.

“The ground wouldn’t have suited him perfectly today either but he was in the right mood and his jumping took us to the front.

“The day is amazing, as is the history of it with the amateur nature of the race. It is a great track and a real pleasure to come round and jump a track like this.

“I’ve got to say the late Richard Woollacott set me on a track to come here and I rode a horse for him on my first military race ride. Without him, I wouldn’t be here.

“The enthusiasm he had for young jockeys and knowledge he had was great. He would only put you up on a horse that knew your ability would suit.”

O’Shea, who for the past five years has served as a naval gunfire liaison officer in the Royal Artillery reserves, hopes he can act as a positive influence to a number of the military personal watching from the stands.

He said: “It is great that the military support these events. The history of these events with the military bring something special to a raceday like this.

“I had ridden as a child and hunted as well but I was 34 when I first had a go at this. I thought I would ride in one of those military races and got chatting to someone in a bar and they said we have a horse but they sold it and that start the ball rolling.

“Half the guys in the stands today would never come racing. Even if a couple of people that come here today get involved it is what the sport needs. In my eyes if we can grow it being involved with it like this it’s great and it is serving a purpose.”

Although O’Shea paid tribute to Woollacott, he was also thanked Grade One-winning trainer Hobbs for providing him with the chance to ride in the race.

He added: “I sold my pub called The Rising Sun just before Christmas so I’ve had a bit of extra time on my hands so I’ve been up to Philip Hobbs’ a few times.

“A massive thank you goes to them for putting me up on him and I’m really pleased to ride a winner as it was my first ride for them.

“It is nice when you put a bit of effort in and get a bit of payback.”

The victory was also a momentous occasion for Rolling Dylan’s temporary owner Colonel James Ferguson, who leased the gelding from Sarah Hobbs, wife of the winning trainer, for the event.

Ferguson said: “I’ve been trying to get a winner at Sandown for 15 seasons. We’ve owned horses with Philip Hobbs since 2007.

“It is my second attempt at single race leasing of a horse for this race. It has really been quite exciting the second time of leasing to have a winner in circumstances where I wasn’t quite expecting it

“I didn’t think the horse would like the going. As he is 11 years old he either decides it is a going day or not a going day but as you can see he decided it was a going day.

“The jumping was incredible it was absolutely foot perfect and it gave the leased owner a real thrill.”

Ferguson will now try and persuade Hobbs in allowing him to lease Rolling Dylan for next month’s Grand Military Gold Cup on March 8th.

He added: “That (Grand Military Gold Cup) depends on the trainer and real owner and I’ve not talked to them about it. We always do what Philip says. It might be nice to come back.”

Peter Scudamore last rode at Sandown 29 years ago. He decided to give Corach Rambler a spin at the Esher track on Thursday morning, ahead of his engagement in the Reynoldstown at Ascot on Saturday.

That preparation and knowledge helped with plans for stablemate Douglas Talking (15-8 favourite), who jumped like a stag in taking the Ubique Handicap Chase.

Scudamore is assistant and partner of Lucinda Russell, who trains at Arlary in Scotland.

The trip proved a worthwhile one for the pair, as the six-year-old, who has been a revelation since going over fences, continued on an upward curve.

“I turned to Scu when he jumped the second and asked, ‘why are we bringing him here, as this is only his second time over fences?’, but that is kind of why,” said Russell.

“He does jump great. He is lovely. Physically he looks like Ahoy Senor – he is by the same sire – and that is why we bought him.

“He is a different horse over fences. You just see it in his face – he is a much happier horses over fences.”

She added: “It is a nice prize and Scu said he would be suited by the track – as usual, he is right!”