Nigel Twiston-Davies’ Zambella (3-1) made it three wins in a row in the Listed BoyleSports Houghton Mares’ Chase at Aintree Racecourse on Saturday afternoon.
On her seasonal return, the eight-year-old, under Daryl Jacob, grabbed a great eighth victory in Listed Mares' contests for owner Simon Munir and Isaac Soude. In the famous two-tone green colours of the owners, the eight-year-old added to previous wins in the 2m4f Listed race at his usual home of Carlisle last year and at Aintree two years when it was also moved following the abandonement of racing at the Cumbrian track. Zambella usually makes the running, but with Dan Skelton's Sacre Ceour going off upwards of 10 lengths clear of the pack, Jacob was happy for the mare to head the chasing pack at the distance. And when the leader tired in the rain-softened ground, Zambella eased to the front two fences from home. She quickly moved clear of her rivals, eventually winning by 17 lengths from Burrows Diamond (15-2).
Next stop will be Doncaster over Christmas where Zambella will bid for a ninth Listed Mares' victory. Bloodstock agent Antony Bromley, racing manager to the owners, said: "That is her ninth win over fences and her eighth in Listed Mares' Chases. SHe has been fourth at the Cheltenham Festival, but she seems like she can't quite do it there. It is just a bit harder. She won the race at Doncaster before and that is her Gold Cup. That is the most valuable one really, apart from the Cheltenham Festival, so she will go to Doncaster.
"She loves it. She likes to make the running but the horse of Dan's was so far in front it was like she was leading the group. She was happy leading her group. She seems in as good a form as ever, so it is fairly easily mapped out route. Doncaster at Christmas hopefully all being well and then Huntingdon. She is not as good at Huntingdon but there is a valuable one there in early February. We will see but we've done the Cheltenham Festival three times, so she is unlikely to go again. It might be her last season and she is a broodmare prospect for us."
He added: "They (the owners) have always liked having mares over all the years. We have had some lovely mares like Un Artiste, Concertista. They have always liked having them and she has been one of the best."
Richmond Lake (4-1) survived a final fence scare to run out a wide-margin winner of the Boylesports Best Odds Guaranteed Handicap Chase.
Merseyside-born Grand National-winning trainer Donald McCain was back in the winner's enclosure at his ‘home’ track as Richmond Lake, under champion jockey Brian Hughes, scored 14-length victory over Gustavian (7-1) with 5-2 favourite Heltenham a further 33 lengths back in third. In the colours of the later Trevor Hemmings – for whom McCain won the 2011 Grand National with Ballabriggs – Richmond Lake made it four wins from his five chase starts, which also included a success at Aintree's fellow Merseyside track, Haydock Park, back in March. Having won over the the smaller obstacles at Wetherby on his seasonal return last month, he scored again back over fences and is becoming a prolific scorer.
McCain said: "It was pain free until the last. But we got away with it so that's fine. He's turned into a good little horse. He is learning to race and learning to relax. We were always coming here. We went to Wetherby just to get a run into him and it worked our better than we thought. This had been the plan. He is a smashing little horse. Adrian Lane, my assistant, rides him ever day at home and he shows nothing. But he is a good little racehorse. He is racing better and he will get a bit further so we will see where he goes. He is entered next week but forget that. You are having to make entries all over with the weather. But we will see what the handicapper does and he could run at Haydock as there are lots of race there for him. He should get a bit further so we will see."
And it was a pleasing victory coming in the yellow, white and green colours of the late Hemmings, who was a big supporter of McCain's Bankhouse stables. He said: "They have been good to me, Catherine and Mr Hemmings. So it always means a lot to us to have a winner in those colours."
Norman Fletcher (11-4) grabbed a second victory over obstacles, under Sam Twiston-Davies, in the opener, the Boylesports Money Back 2nd Meeting Novices’ Hurdle. The Nigel Twiston-Davies' four-year-old had fallen on his debut over obstacles at Huntingdon in October, but followed a second-placed finish at Ludlow and a first victory at Market Rasen last time, with another in good style in the two-mile contest at Aintree.
Norman Fletcher was among the first four or five just off the pace set by 40-1 outsider Gower Prince. But as that rival dropped away after the turn for home, Twiston-Davies brought Norman Fletcher through to challenge with the Dan Skelton-trained 2-1 favourite Goonhilly, under Harry Skelton, also making his move. The two main market principals pulled clear and engaged in a battle over the final couple of flights. But it was Norman Fletcher who stayed on best to win by three-and-three-quarters-of-a-length from Goonhill. Fresh Speculation (40-1) was a massive 35 lengths back in third.
Winning jockey Sam Twiston-Davies said: "I swore a lot after Huntingdon and as hurdlers went he probably took to it best. But he went to Huntingdon and fell I was amazed. But he has come a long way, he is getting quicker. He is very correct at an obstacle but he is getting better at it.
"On nice ground he could make a good two-mile handicap hurdler. Although you wouldn't have seen it today on very heavy ground but he has got a lot of pace. So that that route is likely. He is on 117 with a penalty so I don't know what the handicapper will do. But if there is 1-120 handicap hurdle on nice ground somewhere, he would be hard to beat."
Trainer Dan Skelton was on target at Aintree as Pembroke (6-4) – who landed a first win over fences when completing a walkover at Warwick last month – grabbed another 'lonely' success in the BoyleSports Best Odds Guaranteed On Racing Beginners’ Chase. Under Skelton's brother Harry, Pembroke was the only horse of the four runners to finish in an attritional contest in very heavy conditions. The six-year-old was initially exchanging the early lead with favourite Golden Son, but as that rival fell away, Harry Skelton pushed Pembroke further ahead of his rivals and coming to the final few fences there was only Pozo Emery still going but well behind Pembroke. He was pulled up like Golden Son and Hardy Bloke and it left Pembroke to come home in is own time – eventually crossing the line at almost trotting pace.
Trainer Skelton said: "This ground is important to him. Well, not this ground, but proper soft ground is very important to him because it slows the race down. He doesn't want too fast a run race. He needs a bit more time in front of his obstacles to adjust. You can see he has got a good engine, the others keep with him even cantering.
"Obviously he will have taken plenty out of it. When you trot across the line it is hard work. But in a weird way, you can't go. It is not like they are flying along and jarring themselves up. The horse's lungs recover very quickly, it is the muscles and the extremities that time to get over the race. The lungs more or less recover straight away. He is tough individual."
Pembroke's liking for soft ground means he is unlikely to line-up at either the Cheltenham Festival or the Grand National meeting. So Lingfield in the new year is likely next port of call. He added: "He will go to Lingfield for the Millions meeting (in February). There is a two-mile chase for him so he will go and have a crack at that."
Mel Rowley's Kyntara (10-3) battled to a game victory, under Charlie Deustch, in the BoyleSports Acca Boost On Horse Racing Novices' Handicap Hurdle. Under Deustch, the seven-year-old exchanged the early lead with Monochromix and having initially dropped to second he battled back to lead over coming to the final flight. And he jumped it well before going on to score by seven lengths from Gaye Legacy (9-2) with the Joe Tizzard-trained 5-2 favourite Moonlight Artist a further four-and-a-half-lengths back in third.
Kyntara, who used to be trained by Kim Bailey, had made a winning debut for the Rowley stable, scoring by 13 lengths at Lingfield last month. And he showed he is back on track with another fine success at Aintree.
Rowley said: "I am just over the moon. He came to us from Kim a little bit having lost his way. So it has been so important to get a smile back on his face. We might have done it at Lingfield but then you have got to follow it up. It is a war of attrition out there and we know he will go in the soft but obviously he has got to be happy doing it.
"We took him right back to basics. Completely forgot he was a racehorse. We are massive believers in lots of education and lots of Flat work. Lots of gymnastic jumping, hacking. Just completely change their whole routine so they forget they are racehorses and then you gradually reintroduce the gallop when you need it and so on. And he just seems to have thrived on it. Nancy Rollings had done so much work on him and she had been fundamental to him becoming such a happy horse again. We make a big effort to make sure horses have real individual attention and so it was very much one-to-one with Nancy particularly in the early stages and I think he has really developed because of that. I think he has become more confident and more confident in his own ability again. He had just lost his own confidence."
She added: "We can all get very overexcited but we know feel we are back on track."