Potters Charm Aintree-bound after National Spirit strike

Potters Charm is almost certain to sidestep the Cheltenham Festival in favour of a trip to Aintree after stamping his class on the Star Sports National Spirit Hurdle at Fontwell.

Winner of a valuable prize at Windsor’s Winter Million fixture last month, the Nigel and Willy Twiston-Davies-trained seven-year-old was a 1-2 favourite to follow up in the Grade Two feature of the season in West Sussex.

Odds-on backers will have been concerned when Potters Charm fluffed his lines at the third flight, but he soon came back on the bridle and readily pulled clear of the 2022 winner of this race, Botox Has, between the final two flights.

Just when the hot favourite appeared to have victory sewn up under Sam Twiston-Davies, the 13-year-old Brewin’upastorm finished with gusto in a bid to add to his previous National Spirit triumphs in 2021 and 2023, but Potters Charm had enough in hand to pass the post two lengths to the good.

“He’s a very classy horse and I think he goes a bit under the radar really, bearing in mind he’s now won three Grade Twos and a Grade One,” Willy Twiston-Davies told the Press Association.

“I think we’ll look at the Aintree Hurdle now. We’ll see how it plays out over the next couple of weeks, if the Champion Hurdle was diabolical we might look at supplementing, but I think we’ll almost certainly go straight to Aintree and the first thing Sam said after the race today was that he can’t wait to ride him over a fence next season. He made a one little mistake today, but otherwise his jumping is impeccable.

“I’m nearly certain Cheltenham is a write-off now. Even though he’s won easily in the end after idling in front, he’s probably had a harder race than you think and I think Aintree is the right place to go with him.

“It will be interesting to see what he’s like on better ground as he’s only really run on soft. With the turn of foot he has, he might be an even more potent force on better ground.”