Fountains Chief completed a hat-trick of victories inside a month under a double penalty in a three mile novice hurdle at Uttoxeter on Monday.
He led throughout, jumping well apart from a mistake at the third last and kept on in a pleasing manner to beat Armchair Farmer by two lengths.
The runner up was in receipt of a stone and with the rest of the field finishing in a different parish it was a decent performance from Fountains Chief who was sent to us in the spring after a spell point-to-pointing.
The runner up was in receipt of a stone and with the rest of the field finishing in a different parish it was a decent performance from Fountains Chief who was sent to us in the spring after a spell point-to-pointing.
He has thrived in the past two months, was a bit unlucky to be beaten in a bumper at Fontwell in April and looks a decent prospect after his third success over hurdles.
While Fountains Chief has taken every opportunity we have given him, he has been on go for a long time given that he was running in point-to-points earlier in the season so he will have a nice holiday now.
He is still a novice for the whole of this season which gives us a few options. We might look at handicaps for him or maybe consider the Persian War Hurdle at Chepstow over two and a half miles in October if the ground is OK. He could just surprise and get in the mix in a race of that quality.
