3 minute read
Ben Pauling enjoyed another notable winner this season when Fiercely Proud tenaciously battled back to get the better of Paul Nicholls’ unbeaten Kabral Du Mathan in a pulsating finish to the Ladbrokes Handicap Hurdle at Ascot.
Ben Pauling's hurdler was well-backed to make an immediate impact off his opening mark of 129 at Cheltenham in October, but disaster struck when his jockey's stirrup leather snapped on the way to the start, causing him to run loose and be subsequently withdrawn.
He held every chance when falling two out in a competitive handicap hurdle at Ascot last month and arrived on the back of a fairly eye-catching sixth-place finish in the valuable Greatwood Hurdle at Cheltenham.
Kabral Du Mathan arrived on the scene travelling best at the second last and it looked as though the valuable prize would go the way of the Paul Nicholls team. However, Ben Pauling's charge was in no mood to be denied and under an all-action Kielan Woods drive, Fiercely Proud battled back to score by a short-head.
There were seventeen lengths back to Dan Skelton's Be Aware in third, while both horse and rider were ok after Secret Squirrel departed at the final flight.
It was an important success for Woods, who split with Ben Pauling in order to remain the retained rider for prominent owners the Megsons.
"That's just what we wanted. We thought he was well handicapped at the beginning of the year, but we got it all wrong," said Pauling. "He got loose at Cheltenham; we rode him too handy here and then we had to drop him out in the Greatwood. He had so much to do in the Greatwood.
"This was a change of tactics, and it worked, they went so hard and it was good to see. Two-mile handicap hurdles should be fast run, that's what we're here for and this year they've been run at such a dawdle.
"That was what we need for these horses, this horse is keen everywhere, you go a good gallop like that and he's able to settle off it. I'm just delighted for the owners, it's brilliant, and it's nice for the horse to win a big one as well."