ALTILHAR should grace grander stages on the evidence of his ultra-impressive hurdling debut at Fakenham.
The Gary Moore-trained gelding, rated 81when running on the Flat in September, made light work of mastering the field in the Wensum Juvenile Novices' Hurdle.
A well-backed 5-4 favourite, he was held up in touch by jockey Noel Fehily through much of the race as runner-up Luckylover attempted to make most of the running.
But Altilhar travelled as if there was plenty in reserve, and so it proved as he was ridden to lead after two flights out and soon sped clear for an eightlength triumph.
Fehily said: "He is a nice horse and they never went quick enough for him, really. But he did it well in the end. He jumped great and has been well-schooled. He will be better in a better-run race."
Conditional jockey PJ McDonald rode a winner 24 hours earlier at Leicester and won again on Oniz Tiptoes to victory in the concluding novices' hurdle.
Calculaite looked like the winner for much of the race but McDonald got 15-2 shot Oniz Tiptoes to prevail by three-and-a-half lengths.
The disciplinary panel of the Horseracing Regulatory Authority have presented their case over jockeys Brian Reilly and Dean Williams and registered owner Owen Churchill.
The three face charges linked to the running and riding of horses in 10 races over a 52-day period between December 2004 and February last year.
The HRA are now focusing on the evidence of the defence.
Brian Reilly has given his evidence and was still being cross-examined at the close of proceedings yesterday. This will resume tomorrow, after which Dean Williams will give his evidence.
The hearing should conclude on Friday, as planned.
Reilly and Williams are accused of providing information for reward and "aiding and abetting a breach of the rules".
Ante-post favourite Star De Mohaison features among 46 horses engaged in the Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup after the first forfeit stage. Last season's Royal & SunAlliance Chase winner returned to action with a win over hurdles at Cheltenham and could bid for further success at Newbury on November 25.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article