Tag Archive for: Martin Keighley

No Cheltenham, but Keighley excited at what the future holds for Shinji

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Shinji, who showed plenty of promise when finishing third in a Newbury bumper on Saturday, will bypass the championship event at Cheltenham.

The Kingston Hill gelding, owned by Louise Jones, gave Flat trainer Roget Varian his first success in the National Hunt code with an eyecatching nine-length success at Fakenham in November.

He subsequently joined Martin Keighley and under Sam Twiston-Davies was only beaten two and a half lengths by Aslukgoes at Newbury.

“I was thrilled with Shinji,” said Keighley.

“Sam said he must have some engine to pull as hard as he did. He said he basically ran away with him until he eventually settled in front.

“If he’d have settled from the start, he would probably have won. He is a most exciting horse.”

However, his Condicote-based handler is not keen to run him at the Cheltenham Festival, as he lacks experience.

“He had one run for Roger Varian and he won impressively that day, but he didn’t really beat much. Aidan Coleman still said he did it well, though.

“I think it is too much to ask for a four-year-old to run in a Champion Bumper. He would go to Aintree, I’d say.

“He will make an exciting hurdler for next season. We have schooled him and he jumps well, so we’re looking forward to him.

“He will get further. He is a real strong stayer – he must be to pull as hard as he did (at Newbury) and still hit the line so well.”

Keighley has his string in great heart, and Prairie Diamond was the yard’s fifth winner in the last fortnight when scoring on his debut in the bumper at Hereford on Wednesday.

“They are in really good form at the moment. I’m really pleased with Prairie Diamond,” added the handler.

“He is a big baby, but he came in late. I still own three-quarters of him, so I will have to sell the rest of him now.”

Back On The Lash back in front in Cheltenham cross country

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Back On The Lash defended his Glenfarclas Cross Country Handicap Chase as Festival hero Delta Work had to settle for third at Cheltenham.

Delta Work was the villain of the piece at Prestbury Park in March when defeating Tiger Roll in the dual Grand National winner’s final outing, and Gordon Elliott’s veteran was sent off the 5-2 favourite for handicap action on this occasion.

However, the task of conceding weight to all but one of his 15 rivals took its toll and allowed Martin Keighley’s charge to taste success over the cross-country circuit for a second time.

Back On The Lash ridden by Sean Bowen (centre) clears a fence before going on to win the Glenfarclas Cross Country Handicap Chase during Festival Trials Day at Cheltenham Racecourse
Back On The Lash ridden by Sean Bowen (centre) clears a fence before going on to win the Glenfarclas Cross Country Handicap Chase during Festival Trials Day at Cheltenham Racecourse (David Davies/PA)

Sean Bowen expertly navigated the unique course in the centre of the track to bring the 6-1 shot home three-quarters of a length in front of Deise Aba.

Coral went 16-1 for the nine-year-old to thrive again at the Festival in March, with Betfair 20-1.

Keighley said: “He loves it here, doesn’t he? If anything Sean got there too soon! It was a great ride.

“We were so gutted to lose the first two races around here this season, he ran a good solid race here at the November meeting (when third in the Jewson Handicap Chase) and we’ve just kept him for this race since.

“It’s worked out well and we’ll keep him nice and fresh now and come back for the Festival. It will be level weights there, but he seems to be improving for every run around here and hopefully he can still be in the mix.

“Delta Work ran a good race in third and we were getting just over a stone today, so he’s going to have to improve again in March. Today the ground was probably a bit too good for him so hopefully we’ll get faster ground and we’ll see how it goes.

“We love having winners here, all the locals love a local winner so it makes for a really good atmosphere. Harry (Redknapp, joint-owner) is down in London today opening something, so he’s gutted he can’t be here!”

Philip Hobbs, trainer of Deise Aba, said: “He has run great and jumped beautifully.

“Unfortunately at the second-last he was a bit slow and lost some momentum at it, but he has run really well. It maybe cost him first place, but I’m not totally sure that it did.

“We might come back here for the Festival, but that is off level weights and will be a different job.”

Delta Work (right) in action
Delta Work (right) in action (David Davies/PA)

Gordon Elliott, meanwhile, saw plenty of positives in the effort of Delta Work.

He said: “I’m delighted with the run. He gave the winner and the second horse a lot of weight and we knew there would be plenty of improvement after today. He has only had one run over the banks around here so that is why we wanted to get more experience into him.

“I’m looking forward to coming back here off level weights. That will be his Gold Cup when he comes back here for the Festival. If you look there how he jumped the second-last and last you can see he just needed that bit more experience of the track so that will do him no harm. He galloped all the way to the line so we are very happy.”