In the first race of the day, the Merseyrail Manifestio Novices Chase, Arzal got Sheehan off the mark.
Front-running Arzal put the icing on the cake for Oxfordshire handler Harry Whittington after a great season when capturing the Merseyrail Manifesto Novices’ Chase.
It was a first Grade One success for Whittington, who began training with just five horses in September, 2012.
“It’s just great,” said Whittington. “We’ve had a fantastic season and it’s all down to having good people and good horses.
“Plan A was always to come here and the horse had a temperature two weeks before Cheltenham and that ended any temptation we might have had to change our minds and go there.
“That will be it for sure now with him for the season. He might end up coming back here for the Old Roan Chase in the autumn. He jumps a bit left-handed and what he wants is a flat, left-handed galloping track. Places like Doncaster and here suit him perfectly, they help him get into a good rhythm.”
In the second race Apples Jade proved a ridiculously easy win.
Apple’s Jade strolled to a 41-length victory in the Grade One Betfred Anniversary 4-Y-O Juvenile Hurdle, leaving her Cheltenham conqueror Ivanovich Gorbatov in her wake.
In doing so she added to the treasure chest of her trainer, Willie Mullins, who is chasing down leader Paul Nicholls in the British Jump trainers’ championship. She became the first winner for either man at this week’s Crabbie’s Grand National Festival.
Apple’s Jade, a 3/1 shot, was ridden into the lead by Bryan Cooper turning in, and cantered clear of her rivals. Ivanovich Gorbatov, the 7/4 favourite, who had beaten her in the JCB Triumph Hurdle last month, finished half a length clear of third-placed Azzuri, who started at 20/1.
Mullins said: “I couldn’t dream of anything like that. We were hoping to win, and that maybe the ground would not suit the favourite and would suit us, but nothing like that. It was extraordinary.
“I thought Bryan was mad going on when he did – before he turned in he was letting her slip into the lead and I thought this straight is far too long, there are three hurdles to jump, keep a little in your tank. When he got off her he told me he still had plenty in the tank.
“Who knows where she will go after that – it was only the fourth or fifth run of her life, because she didn’t run on the Flat. When we got her we thought she was nice and would become a Triumph Hurdle mare, but nothing like that. She is now in a different league.
“It is difficult for five-year-olds – I don’t think it’s ever been done for a mare of that age to win a Champion Hurdle. Is she more of a World Hurdle horse? I don’t make big plans for horses of that age.”
Paddy Power made Apple’s Jade their 5/2 favourite for the OLBG Mares’ Hurdle at next year’s Cheltenham Festival, and 14/1 for the Stan James Champion Hurdle. Mullins has hardened to 2/7 from 1/3 for the trainers’ title.
Tizzard was incredibly cool following his win in the third race of the day. He was as cool as cucumber following the race.
Unashamed pride was evident, and while the memory of his horse’s Timico Cheltenham Gold Cup fall will never be erased, today’s nine lengths and eight lengths win over Don Poli and Djakadam – who were third and second at Cheltenham – confirmed that Cue Card would have been very difficult to beat had he not succumbed to gravity three fences from home when easing into the lead.
Tizzard said of the Paddy Brennan-ridden Cue Card, the 6/5 favourite: “I’ve been saying all season he’s in the form of his life and he showed it today. Paddy was quite cool on him, when I thought he was going to be a bit closer to the front early on, but it was proved right. He has an engine on him – there’s no bottom to him.
“I think he might have won at Cheltenham, but they have to jump the fences and he didn’t. You could see when he was in tight to a fence today he was better – he had never been on the floor before and I believe he learnt from it. It’s relief now – you almost expect him to do it. It was so disappointing at Cheltenham and it felt like one had got away. Now I’m so proud of the horse – thank God he got up and the next day he was completely unscathed, like he hadn’t been to the races. We schooled him this week, and he went into the first fence and looked at it, which was good. He just missed the fence at Cheltenham, that’s all I can think.
“Everyone has tried to write him off and he was disappointing last year, but to see him in the paddock before today’s race and he’s never looked so well. It’s a brilliant day and it shows what a horse he is.
“He’s so relaxed he worries you a little bit. We changed the bit [in his mouth] today – he used to be in a Dexter bit with a ring in because he pulled so hard, but we took it off him today and just put a snaffle on to make him pull. But he doesn’t need to any more – he would stay all day now.
“He’s not had a hard race and he’s 10 now, so he will go to Punchestown.”
Cue Card is now 4/1 from 7/1 for Kempton’s King George VI Chase with Paddy Power.
Owner Jean Bishop said: “That was very good. I didn’t have any doubts, but obviously, with what happened before, you have got to be nervous about it. We have every confidence in Paddy and the horse.”
Annie Power, somewhat expectedly made short work of the fourth race.
The brilliant Annie Power (4/9 Fav) confirmed herself one of the all-time great jumping mares with a superb performance to take the Grade One Doom Bar Aintree Hurdle.
Last month’s Stan James Champion Hurdle heroine powered home 18 lengths clear of the Cheltenham runner-up My Tent Or Yours.
“That was only her third run of the season so I thought she might have improved since Cheltenham, or at the very least she wouldn’t have gone backwards,” sais trainer Willie Mullins. “She came back well from Cheltenham and we’ve been very happy with the few bits of work she’s done since then.
“We’ll certainly have a look at Punchestown for her now, that’s all that would be left for her in Britain or Ireland.
“As I said before, the very first day I saw her, she was the most like Dawn Run of any mare I’d seen. I’m just hoping that with her size she is still improving and getting stronger
“She can carry weight and she could jump fences if that’s what we want to do with her. With her size and scope, she could do anything
“The Doom Bar Aintree Hurdle is a race I’ve always wanted to win. We’ve been second in it something like six times and it has been won by some fantastic horses.”
Speaking about the British trainers’ title race, Mullins added: “There’s a lot of water to still flow under the bridge and races likes the Crabbie’s Grand National and Scottish National will have a big say. We’re just trying to convert some of our possibles into winners.”
Rich Ricci, whose wife Susannah owns the mare, added: “She’s just a great mare to own. Her jumping has improved for whatever reason this season and this seems the right trip for her. We probably should have run in this two years ago but we went to the Stayers’ Hurdle.
” very quick. She’s only a youngster – she’s eight and she’s lightly-raced. She’s improved from Cheltenham, which I wouldn’t have believed. She looked better beforehand and better in her coat.
“That’s just a wonderful performance and our first winner at Aintree, which is great. She’s a privilege to own and to be a part of history.”
On The Fringe made hunter chasing history today when completing the Foxhunter double for the second year running.
The Enda Bolger-trained 10-year-old won last month’s St James’s Place Foxhunter Chase at Cheltenham, and today he romped Aintree’s equivalent, the Crabbie’s Fox Hunters’ Chase. Having won both races last year he became the first horse to land the double-double, and could join Credit Call next year as the only horse to land the Aintree prize three times.
In the meantime he is in line for a double-treble by winning Punchestown’s Champion Hunters’ Chase, which he also landed last year. He also won that race in 2011 when just a five-year-old.
Nina Carberry, who has become the horse’s regular partner, missed the ride today after incurring a seven-day ban at Cheltenham, so Jamie Codd stepped up. On The Fringe, the 15/8 favourite, won by eight lengths and one and a quarter lengths, from 50/1 shot Dineur and Mendip Express, who started at 11/1. Current Event was fourth under Katie Walsh.
Bolger said: “I was worried after Becher’s, thinking he was a little far back, but he’s a great horse to work with and this place always brings the best out of him. It’s hard luck on Nina, but she’ll be back on him next time, and Jamie gave him a fine ride. It is some thrill for a rider to be out there on a horse as good as this – jumping is his forte.
“He won the Champion Hunters’ Chase at Punchestown as a five-year-old under J T McNamara and he’s been on the go since then. He has a great appetite for the game which makes him easy to train.
“We didn’t have the best run up to Cheltenham and he had a hard race there, but three days later he was back to his old self. He got into a lovely rhythm here and it went great.
“We’ll see how he is before deciding on Punchestown, but please God that will be the plan.”
Asked if the Crabbie’s Grand National could one day be on the agenda, Bolger said: “I’m happy here in my own comfort zone, and I’ll leave that up to J P and Frank [Berry, the owner’s racing manager].”