Dance and Glance delivered a memorable early Christmas present for me on Friday by providing my 500th winner as a trainer in a highly competitive £15,000 handicap hurdle at Ascot.
That landmark total includes victories in Ireland and on the flat.
We had further cause for celebration as he was the 100th winner his jockey Rex Dingle has ridden for me since he joined us a 10 lbs claimer.
Rex has made great strides since then and is an important player in our team.
We have always liked Dance and Glance who has given his owners Mere racing a lot of fun already.
He’s progressive, and showed he had grown up on Friday with a very professional performance, poised in a lovely position through the race before finding enough to fight off several challengers in the closing stages to win by a head.
He has been learning all the while as we tried to find a way to encourage him to save his energy through a race and he has never settled better than on Friday.
Dance and Glance is so versatile with lots of upside since we gave him a wind op early this year.
Hopefully he can land a big handicap in the months ahead before he goes chasing next season.
