Windsor: Gidleigh Park reveals true price with Lightning strike for Harry Fry | Racing Information
Harry Fry was delighted and relieved in equal measure after seeing steady star Gidleigh Park get his season again on monitor with a front-running victory within the Fitzdares Lightning Novices’ Chase at Windsor.
At all times held within the highest regard by his coach, the seven-year-old gained a Chepstow bumper and his first three begins over hurdles earlier than ending sixth within the Albert Bartlett eventually season’s Cheltenham Pageant.
He was an odds-on favorite to make a profitable change to chasing at Kempton in November, however was pulled up after leaping 5 fences and was later discovered to be affected by a fibrillating coronary heart.
Because of this, Gidleigh Park lined up on this Grade Two contest as a 15-2 outsider of 4 below Bryan Carver, nevertheless it was clear from an early stage he was having fun with the duty, as he set a powerful gallop from flag-fall that solely 4-6 favorite Caldwell Potter was capable of dwell with.
Grade One-winning hurdler Caldwell Potter, a €740,000 [£625,000] buy on behalf of an possession group that features Sir Alex Ferguson, loomed up wanting an enormous hazard early within the dwelling straight, however Gidleigh Park stored galloping out in entrance and was nicely on high as he handed the put up with 4 lengths in hand.
Private Ambition was an additional 19 lengths behind in third, with You Put on It Properly final of 4 from begin to end.
Fry informed Sky Sports activities Racing: “I believe aid might be the overriding feeling, at the beginning that he is come out and jumped and galloped and hit the road arduous.
“Successful as we speak was the icing on the cake, as we wished to see him again to his greatest and I am thrilled clearly to see him put in a efficiency like that. We’re again on monitor and onwards and upwards.
“Lots of people have helped us get him again, lots of people have put in plenty of effort and it is nice to see that onerous work paid off and the dream is alive.
“All summer season, I could not consider I ran him within the Albert Bartlett over three miles to be sincere, as a result of he isn’t a gradual horse, as he is proven there as we speak.
“We have been beginning again from scratch as we speak, so we’ll go dwelling and see how he comes out of it – clearly his well-being is paramount – and we are able to stay up for plotting the remainder of the marketing campaign with him.”
