Lucky Place announced himself as a Stayers’ Hurdle contender with a battling victory over the admirable Gowel Road in the Dornan Engineering Relkeel Hurdle at Cheltenham.
Nicky Henderson’s progressive performer had made a winning return in the Ascot Hurdle and was again taking on Jeremy Scott’s Cheltenham Festival winner Golden Ace, who was sent off the 5/2 favourite for this New Year’s Day feature.
Ridden by Nico de Boinville, Lucky Place was one of the runners to keep tabs on the forward-going Gowel Road as Sam Twiston-Davies attempted to bring stamina to the fore aboard his father Nigel’s strong-staying and consistent performer.
Winning jockey Nico de Boinville
Meanwhile, Golden Ace and Gary and Josh Moore’s Salver travelled stylishly in behind as they stealthily moved into contention heading downhill for the final time.
With Salver taking a crashing fall at the last and Golden Ace’s stamina beginning to waver, it was left to Lucky Place to hold off the rallying Gowel Road who refused to lie down and made the young Seven Barrows pretender answer every call.
He returned a winning verdict of three-quarters of a length at odds of 3/1, with Henderson suggesting the Cleeve Hurdle could be next as he seeks further evidence to warrant a tilt at the Stayers’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival in March, for which Coral went 16/1 from 20/1.
Henderson said: “He’s just the most likeable young horse you could wish to have. He was meant to go novice chasing and he jumps very well, but I just couldn’t find the opportunities to go chasing and I don’t mind saying that because he should have been chasing.
“Luckily we have some very good novice chasers doing that and he has now slotted back into the Ascot Hurdle and into this, and I think he has batted himself into the squad for the Stayers’ Hurdle. He stays.
“You could go to the Cleeve, but I don’t know, racing over three miles is always going to be a tough battle and does he need one on the way to the Stayers’ or not? Nico and I had a quick chat afterwards and we decided he ought to have a crack at the Stayers’, but do we need to test that before March as we’re pretty confident he stays.
“He was ridden to take the sting out of the race today and we had to ride him like a stayer today, we needed to quicken it up and get on with it and take the sting out of the speedier horses which he did and then he put his head down and battled well.
“It’s a division that is open and I think he has earned his ticket to the Stayers’. We don’t have anything else for the race.
“I don’t think we have to prove he stays to ourselves, we know he stays and he is on a progressive curve.
“We think he’s a three-miler, he’s progressive and I might say he is better to keep growing than throw another race at him. The only point in running in the Cleeve is to prove he stays and why don’t we ask that in March rather than the end of January.”