We enjoyed a high-profile double on Saturday with Jordans Cross winning by a whisker at Cheltenham before Dartmoor Pirate completed a superb afternoon for our team with an impressive success in the Great Yorkshire Chase at Doncaster shown live on ITV.
We had targeted both races some time ago and it is lovely to see a plan come off.
Our horses continue to be competitive at a consistent strike rate of 20% and have now won 38 races this season and just over £638,000 for their owners.
Jordans Cross has made decent progress over the past few months and came with a withering late run to snatch the verdict in the final stride of the Timeform Novice Handicap Chase at Cheltenham in the colours of The Steeple Chasers.
Our second contender Kdeux Saint Fray also ran very well to finish fourth, staying on nicely in the closing stages.
Jordans Cross races slightly more lazily these days, should stay further and looks like a three mile chaser of the future in the big Saturday handicaps next season.
Both horses should have learned plenty from the experience and are likely to run next in the Jack Richards Novice Handicap Chase over two and a half miles at the Cheltenham Festival.
Our attention then turned to Doncaster where Dartmoor Pirate excelled himself by landing the £100,000 Great Yorkshire on his fourth start over fences carrying the colours of an enthusiastic syndicate put together by our yard sponsor Geegeez.co.uk.
He was given a patient ride by Rex Dingle who declined to get involved with the fierce early pace before producing his mount with a nicely timed run that saw them win a shade comfortably.
It was brilliant to land another valuable Saturday handicap and I’d like to think there should be more to come from Dartmoor Pirate who could get an entry in the NH Chase over three miles, six furlongs which is now a handicap for professional riders.
