Sandown report: No Drama This End enhances reputation

No Drama This End enhanced his growing reputation with a comfortable success in the Betfair Winter Novices’ Hurdle at Sandown.

Ninth in last season’s Champion Bumper, the five-year-old made a big impression on his hurdling debut at Cheltenham last month and while trainer Paul Nicholls was initially minded to wait for the Grade One Challow Hurdle at Newbury over the festive period, he found this £80,000 contest too good an opportunity to miss.

Saddled with a 5lb penalty in his bid for back-to-back Grade Two wins, No Drama This End had to be squeezed along on a couple of occasions by Harry Cobden, but was hard on the bridle by the time he took over from the front-running Top Jimmy jumping the second flight from home.

Cobden looked between his legs for dangers approaching the last and while The Blue Room finished off to good effect, the Nicholls-trained 4-9 favourite eased to a five-length verdict, prompting Coral to make him their 6-1 market leader from 12-1 for the Turners Novices’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival.

“We’re obviously very excited about him, we were at Cheltenham and we were before then,” Nicholls told Nick Luck and Racing TV viewers.

“There’s been a bit of pressure on me this week because I decided to come here instead of going straight to the Challow, but this is a good race, we’ve won it with some good horses and it was worth running in. He sauntered round and did that very nicely.

“The Challow has been on the agenda but it’s not the be-all and end-all. If he’s right he could run, but if we don’t go to the Challow it’s not the end of the world.

“Cheltenham will be a nice aim if the ground is right and he could always slot in somewhere in between. If he ran in the Challow he’d go straight to Cheltenham, but we’ll just see how he is in the next three weeks.”

Part-owner Max McNeill added: “I don’t think I’ve been as nervous as that on a racecourse for a very long time.

“It’s great to be involved in a horse like this and it’s exciting. I’ve had some good horses, but I don’t think I’ve had one that’s as exciting as this.

“Someone said to me we should let the horses do their talking on the track, it’s difficult when you get asked about it all the time but today he did his talking on the track and it’s great.”

Salver passed his stamina test with flying colours in the Betfair Esher Novices’ Chase at Sandown, the second of three winners on the card for the father-son training partnership of Gary and Josh Moore and jockey Caoilin Quinn.

Winner of his first four starts over hurdles two seasons ago, Salver failed to add to his tally last term but did run well in defeat on a few occasions and also performed creditably when third behind Lulamba on his debut over fences at Exeter last month.

He was stepped up from two miles and a furlong to three miles for this Grade Two contest and after being held up off the strong pace set by the bold-jumping Doyen Quest for much of the way, he arrived on the scene travelling strongly at the top of the home straight and pulled 12 lengths clear with relative ease.

“I didn’t think he’d stay, I thought he might have too much poke (pace),” Gary Moore told Racing TV.

“If you look at his form he’s been running round behind top-class hurdlers, but fair play to Keith (Graves, owner), he wanted to try (three miles) and I thought if he stayed round here, he’d stay round anywhere.

“That is why we rode him like we did and dropped him out and took our time. The horse in front jumped a lot better than us on the first circuit, but it surprised me how well he jumped on the second circuit.

“I’d been looking at two-and-half to two-mile-six races, but Caoilin has got off and said he stays all day.

“He’s always been an incredible horse. He had a good three/four-year-old career and the four/five-year-old season is tough, but today he has put it right.”

Macktoad is likely to head down the Triumph Hurdle route following an impressive British debut for the team in the Daily Tips On Betting.Betfair “Introductory” Juvenile Hurdle.

The French bumper winner was a 3-1 joint-favourite for a race the Moores won in 2019 with Goshen, who memorably had the Triumph Hurdle at his mercy the following spring before crashing out at the final obstacle.

Macktoad will have a few tests to pass in the meantime, with Finale Hurdle at Chepstow over Christmas a possible next port of call, but he was not hard-pressed to win this event by three and a quarter lengths and Coral make him a 16-1 shot from 66-1 for the juvenile championship at the Cheltenham Festival in March.

Former jockey Josh Moore said: “He impressed me there. I’ve ridden the horse a lot and I’ve even schooled him, and I shouldn’t school, but he’s one of those horses that jumps well enough you can kind of trust him.

“We’ve never got to the bottom of him and he’s not flashy, but he does everything in second gear the whole time.

“He’s controlled that race today from the front and coped with conditions, but he’s a good mover so I’d like to think he’ll cope with better ground as well.

“It (Chepstow) is quite soon for the horse and he is only a three-year-old, but it’s an option you’ve got to consider.”

The treble was completed by 3-1 shot Across Earth in the Betfair Racing Podcasts ‘Four Years Old’ Handicap Hurdle

Keep Running lived up to his name with a facile front-running victory in the Best Odds On The Betfair Exchange Handicap Chase.

A well-supported 11-8 favourite after a second-placed finish over hurdles at Fontwell on his seasonal debut four weeks ago, the Warren Greatrex-trained gelding jumped superbly in the hands of James Bowen and came home with 18 lengths in hand.

Welcom To Cartries (10-1) edged out New Order by a head to claim top honours in the Bet At Your Best With Betfair Handicap Chase, completing a double on the card for Paul Nicholls and Harry Cobden following the earlier success of the exciting No Drama This End.