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Towton Novices’ Chase |
Wayward Prince Lands Towton Double for Williams
05/02/11
1 Wayward Prince 5/6F
2 Cape Tribulation 6/1
3 Captain Americo 9/1
5 ran Distances: 2l, 9l, 18l
TIME 6m 37.00s (slow by 44.00s)
Ian Williams celebrated his second successive totesport.com Towton Novices' Chase victory as Wayward Prince landed the Grade Two feature at Wetherby to follow up Weird Al's triumph 12 months ago.
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Winner of his first two races over fences, including a decent event at Cheltenham, he was already prominent in the ante-post betting for the RSA Chase back there in March and did his prospects no harm at all with a two-length defeat of Cape Tribulation.
The runner-up is no mug and was a winner at this level over timber, but though Wayward Prince was off the bridle in the back straight, he always looked likely to land the odds at 5-6 under Dougie Costello.
Williams said: "That was a case of job done. It was hard work, but he much prefers coming off a strong pace. You are never going to get that in five-runner races and we will look forward to it at Cheltenham.
"The second is a very good horse on his day and we've given him a bit of weight. He hasn't had the squeeze put on him yet and he'll be cherry ripe for Cheltenham now."
Costello added: "He falls asleep when you try to ride a race on him. He's much better going two gears too fast rather than two gears too slow. He has won at Cheltenham before and he stays all day. He'll run very well in March."
However, when asked if Wayward Prince would be his best chance at the big meeting, Costello replied: "No, that would be Midnight Chase in the Gold Cup."
Costello landed a treble, two of them for John Quinn, including on newcomer Moonlight Drive (9-2) in the Bet totepool At totesport.com Novices' Hurdle.
A former Irish point-to-pointer, he survived a blunder at the second-last to beat Tim Easterby's highly-regarded Trustan Times by six lengths.
Quinn said: "He's a proper horse and he'd shown more speed at home than his pedigree suggested. He's got an entry in the Albert Bartlett and as long as it isn't fast ground he'll run. He won't run beforehand. He'll also be entered for Aintree."
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Position |
Horse Trainer |
Jockey Weight |
Starting Price Beaten Distance |
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1 |
Wayward Prince Ian Williams |
D C Costello 11st 7lbs |
5 - 6 Winner |
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2 |
Cape Tribulation J M Jefferson |
J Reveley 11st 4lbs |
6 - 1 2 lengths |
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3 |
Captain Americo J Ewart |
Harry Haynes 11st 0lbs |
9 - 1 9 lengths |
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4 |
On His Own J Howard Johnson |
B Hughes 11st 0lbs |
8 - 1 18 lengths |
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5 |
Hollo Ladies Ferdy Murphy |
G Lee 11st 0lbs |
5 - 1 1 1/2 length |
