Tag Archive for: Exeter

Luccia impresses with Exeter stroll

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Nicky Henderson’s Luccia opened up further Cheltenham Festival options with a straightforward victory in the Virgin Bet Daily Extra Places Novices’ Hurdle at Exeter.

Unbeaten in three starts prior to the run, the chestnut brought forward flawless bumper form and an existing Listed hurdle win gained at Newbury in November.

Not seen since after her Tolworth preparations were interrupted by an unsatisfactory scope, Luccia was nevertheless the 8-13 favourite under Nico de Boinville.

She travelled happily throughout and swept past her rivals with ease when asked, only giving connections a sole moment of doubt with a cat-leap at last.

Her 11-length Listed victory was still easily achieved, however, and she remains undefeated.

“She’s good, isn’t she? She’s been amazing because she had two bumpers last year and then we seriously nearly lost her,” Henderson told Racing TV.

“She had an extraordinary incident and she was as close to being put down as you’ll see. We didn’t know if she’d come back at all or if she’d be able to jump, it was a hind-end injury.

“We were a bit brave, we started her in a Listed race and she won that really well, then she had a dirty scope like one or two of them over the winter.

“This was the perfect race and the perfect timing just to get one more run into her. To be fair, it looked competitive and like it was going to be a good test but it didn’t seem to phase her at all.”

Of her less fluent attempt at the last flight, the trainer added: “She jumps well, we do a lot of extra schooling with her in the indoor school. Nico loves going round there on her, it just helps her technique a little bit.

Luccia on her hurdling debut
Luccia on her hurdling debut (John Walton/PA)

“Rather than just hurdling, she learns to jump properly and she does jump well, she was just untidy at the last but otherwise she was very quick and economical all the way round. I’ve got to say I was impressed.”

The Ryanair Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle was always the intended target for Luccia, but the triumph has brought the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle into the equation come March.

“I’d say the mares’, personally,” said Henderson.

To the suggestion that she is good enough for the Supreme, he then added: “That’s what my jockey said – we’ve got four weeks to discuss it.”

Henderson and De Boinville enjoyed a treble on the card with The Carpenter (7-4) on the mark in the Virgin Bet British Stallion Studs EBF ‘National Hunt’ Novices’ Hurdle, while Walking On Air (15-8 favourite) proved too good in the Pertemps Network Handicap Hurdle.

Venetia Williams’ Pink Legend returned to winning ways to land the Listed Virgin Bet Best Odds Daily Mares’ Chase under Charlie Deutsch.

Charlie Deutsch and Pink Legend at Ascot
Charlie Deutsch and Pink Legend at Ascot (Simon Marper/PA)

The nine-year-old was a 4-1 chance for the contest and made all of the running over the three-mile trip, her main pursuer being Jeremy Scott’s 11-10 favourite Kissesforkatie.

Four from home the two locked horns and it was Pink Legend that pulled away and stayed on well to claim a five-length victory ahead of Scott’s mare, with the Williams-trained stablemate Kapga De Lily a further half-length behind.

“I’m really delighted, obviously we wanted to get a bit of black type for Kapga De Lily,” said Williams.

“Pink Legend can sometimes be a bit of a law unto herself. Frank Mahon, who owns her, has always been assertive about the ground and said on good ground she likes it.

“He’s absolutely right and Charlie said as soon as she jumped off she was straight into the bridle, she jumped the first and she was off.

“It’s her first time back over three miles for a while, she enjoyed the tempo and everybody was very happy to have somebody to make the running. It was great.”

Luccia ready to light up Exeter in pre-Cheltenham prep

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Luccia is aiming to book her Cheltenham Festival ticket in the Virgin Bet Daily Extra Places Novices’ Hurdle at Exeter on Sunday.

Nicky Henderson’s talented mare has only been seen once this season – but just like when she ran in her two bumpers, she displayed a good deal of talent.

Henderson took the unusual step of letting her make her hurdling debut in Listed company at Newbury which she won with ease and then he wanted to test her at the highest level in the Tolworth at Sandown.

Unfortunately she was ruled out of that engagement with a dirty scope, but she is ready to go again now in a Listed event against Paul Nicholls’ Lallygag and Charlie Longsdon’s Western Zephyr among others.

“She has done everything right so far and made a very impressive debut over hurdles at Newbury. She is in great form and has been working well,” said Henderson.

“It was very annoying that we had to miss the Tolworth Hurdle with her as that is where I wanted to go, but she had a little bit of a dirty scope and we had to miss a little bit of time with her.

“She is all good now and we need to get another run into her for more experience over hurdles before we go to Cheltenham.

“I could have found an easier race for her to run, but this is a decent prize to aim. Although she does act on soft, this ground will be fine for her.”

Exeter and Leicester called off as frost continues to bite

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There will be no National Hunt racing in Britain on Tuesday after fixtures at both Exeter and Leicester were abandoned on Monday morning due to frost.

Officials at Leicester had planned to inspect at 3.30pm, but with the track frozen and no prospect of sufficient improvement, an early decision was made.

Clerk of the course Jimmy Stevenson said: “Unfortunately there has been little improvement.

“I was hoping last night for it not to be as cold – it wasn’t as cold as it has been considering it only went down to minus 3C last night when we have been getting minus 7C and minus 8C. But unfortunately that wasn’t enough to help us out and the frost is really set in the ground now.

“It’s been in the ground now for about nine days and unfortunately the temperatures that are forecast aren’t going to help us.”  

It is a similar story at Exeter, where an inspection had been announced for 4pm. However, that was brought forward to 9am and officials had to draw stumps.

It is not only jumps fixtures which are being affected by the cold snap, with Monday’s all-weather meeting at Kempton abandoned due to freezing fog.

The Sunbury circuit came through a 12.30pm precautionary inspection on Sunday, but a further check was announced for raceday morning and clerk of the course Barney Clifford ultimately had no option but to call off proceedings.

He said: “It’s 8am, we’ve got freezing fog and it’s minus 5C.

“I had to wait to get the latest update from the Met Office and it’s not forecast to clear today. It might do by 3pm, but it’s worse now than it was 7.30am.

“Hopefully we should be fine for racing on Wednesday, but this looks set in for the day. Put it this way, if I was going skiing here today you wouldn’t see much!”

Wednesday’s meeting at Warwick is subject to an inspection at noon on Tuesday, with the current going described as frozen, soft in places.

Kempton card falls due to freezing fog

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This afternoon’s all-weather fixture at Kempton has been abandoned due to freezing fog.

The Sunbury circuit came through a 12.30pm precautionary inspection on Sunday, but a further check was announced for raceday morning and officials ultimately had no option but to call off proceedings.

Clerk of the course Barney Clifford said: “It’s 8am, we’ve got freezing fog and it’s minus 5C.

“I had to wait to get the latest update from the Met Office and it’s not forecast to clear today. It might do by 3pm, but it’s worse now than it was 7.30am.

“Hopefully we should be fine for racing on Wednesday, but this looks set in for the day. Put it this way, if I was going skiing here today you wouldn’t see much!”

Leicester’s meeting on Tuesday has also been called off. Officials had planned to inspect at 3.30pm, but with the track frozen and no prospect of sufficient improvement, an early decision was made.

Exeter’s National Hunt meeting on Tuesday must survive a 4pm inspection on Monday.

Lingfield’s Winter Million meeting frozen off

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Despite a huge effort by officials and groundstaff at Lingfield the third day of the Winter Million fixture has been abandoned due to a frozen track.

Prospects had looked bleak earlier in the week and Friday’s scheduled card, the first of the three-day Winter Million meeting, was called off a long way in advance.

However, a thaw towards the end of the week, particularly on Saturday which enabled the course to become raceable, raised hopes the valuable fixture featuring the Fleur Du Lys Chase would be able to take place.

Forecasts ranged from between minus 1C and minus 4C with clerk of the course George Hill confessing it would need to be towards the lower end to stand any chance.

Unfortunately temperatures reached a bitter minus 5C on course and the efforts of up to 50 people in covering up the course with frost sheets went to waste with the meeting called of long before a scheduled 8am precautionary inspection.

Hill tweeted: “***RACING ABANDONED*** (Sun 22 Jan). Currently -5C, inspection brought forward as currently frozen in places with no signs of improvement with the forecast. Despite our best efforts, the weather has beaten us.”

It means there has been no racing on turf in the UK since Hereford on Monday but Navan did manage to race on Saturday in Ireland and racing is due to take place at Thurles on Sunday.

There was also bad news from Market Rasen who abandoned their meeting on Friday, set to feature the Listed Alan Swinbank Mares’ Open National Flat race, but swiftly rearranged for Tuesday.

However, much colder temperatures than forecast over the weekend has meant there has been no discernible improvement in the track and early on Sunday morning Tuesday’s fixture was also abandoned.

The going report read: “Following a second consecutive night of un-forecast -5C the track now has significant areas of frozen ground, including under the frost covers. Original forecast for improved conditions has not materialised and therefore no prospect of the ground thawing before racing.”

Exeter’s meeting on Tuesday must survive a 4pm inspection on Monday while Leicester will inspect at 3.30pm on Monday for their meeting on the same day following successive minus 5C nights over the weekend.

Kempton’s all-weather meeting on Monday must survive an 8am precautionary inspection on raceday due to the threat of freezing fog and low temperatures having passed a 12.30pm precautionary inspection on Sunday.