Julius Des Pictons (14-1) came with a great late run under jockey Gavin Sheehan to take the three-mile Oddschecker Sefton Novices’ Hurdle at Aintree today – handing trainer Jamie Snowden his first Grade One success in the process.
Jamie Snowden said: “That was incredible. He’s a properly nice horse. We’d been campaigning him mainly over two and two and a half miles this season but then the better ground came along. His stamina was a bit of an unknown but he’s bred for it and he stayed well, although the final fifty yards was a long way.
“That’s our first Grade 1. We’ve been placed in plenty of them and had Cheltenham Festival winners but that’s very special. It’s a great team of guys to do it for too, and David Wigan (one of owners The Footie Partnership) has been a huge supporter of ours. It’s great that Gavin was on board too. It’s brilliant. There’s no finer man!”
Gary Hanmer, trainer of the two-lengths 50-1 runner-up Minella Rescue, said: “I’m delighted. He was a little unlucky last time - he should have won at Haydock - but he ran well first time out [at Doncaster] after a break. We came here thinking that if everything went well for us, he may be top six. We thought 100/1 was a bit embarrassing, so the owners helped themselves to a bit of that.
“He wants good ground. I made a big error by running him at Bangor on soft ground on his first run back after a break. With a bit of luck behind us he’d have won his last two, but he didn’t, and he wouldn’t have been that price coming here if he had. Now it’s out in the open - everyone knows about him.
“He’s got three weeks left as a novice, so it’s very tempting to go in a 0-120 novice, but Sean [Bowen] said he had a hard race today because he ran right to the line, so if he’s ok, we’ll run him again, and if he isn’t, he’ll have to wait and run in a handicap. We’ve got a little race mapped out for him at Galway, at the festival, so that is well within our plans.
“His jumping’s a bit sloppy to go chasing - not ideal - so that might be a bit of a slow burner. He’s got a big engine, and that normally counts for most things. It might just be that he needs a bit of time, but at his age, he’s running out of time for an education, really, so we are where we are. He’s a lovely horse with a big engine, and we’ve just got to look after him.”
Anthony Honeyball, trainer of the third Crest Of Fortune, said: “We are delighted with him.
“We thought with this type of race it would suit him rather than run in a handicap. His hurdling wasn’t really good enough as it proved today.
“He wouldn’t have gotten in any of the handicaps and we just thought today he could sit mid pack and his pedigree suggested going up to three miles. We didn’t want to go three miles all season.
“He might well be going chasing next season but we will see. He is a big baby still. The winner is a well put together sort but he is still a baby. That was a big effort from him so it’s really good.”
