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Sunday’s racing round-up includes news of La Renommee’s triumph in the Listed Yorkshire Silver Vase…
The Listed Yorkshire Silver Vase Mares' Chase went the way of Dr. Richard Newland and Jamie Insole's La Renommee at Doncaster, overturning Irish raider Brides Hill to land the spoils. Gavin Cromwell's charge, despite being sent off a warm 2/5 favourite, proved no match for the winner who put up the challenge to Nicky Henderson's front-running Fantastic Lady one fence from the finish. Under a firm ride from Charlie Hammond, La Renommee did just enough in the closing stages to prevail by one-and-three-quarter lengths.
Berkshire-based trainer Harry Derham has opened up on his recent bad fortune, revealing that his gallop was destroyed by Storm Bert. His facilities were left unfit for purpose as nearly 80mm of rain fell across two days at the end of November. While previously maintaining silence on the subject, the episode explains Derham's reduced number of runners across the last month, sending out three horses in the past two weeks. Derham is currently in the process of resurfacing the affected areas, and has expressed his hopes of making a positive return to action as the National Hunt season progresses.
Dan and Harry Skelton have proved an unstoppable force in recent weeks, adding to their Grade 1 glory on Saturday with a three-timer today in a rare visit to Kelso. The Warwickshire-based team opened their account at the Borders track with odds-on favourite Ace of Spades winning the 2m6f novice hurdle comfortably by six-and-a-half lengths. The second leg went in with Beat Box in the 2m chase, who benefited from Lucinda Russell's well-supported Caithness unshipping Derek Fox at the third fence. Komedy Kicks confirmed the treble in the penultimate 2m2f hurdle, making late headway to justify the near-560 mile round-trip.
Kim Bailey sent out what may have been his last winner as an individual trainer, as Hurlerontheditch won the Novices' Limited Handicap Chase at Doncaster. The Grand National, Gold Cup, and Champion Hurdle winning handler is due to be joined on the license on Wednesday by assistant Mat Nicholls, who has worked with Bailey for sixteen years.
