THAT’S RICH!
Hobson relieved by Fugitif’s great escape
FUGITIF got out of jail in the December Gold Cup to stretch Gavin Sheehan’s hot streak — and free Richard Hobson from Cheltenham’s cold list.
As Il Ridoto and Bryony Frost hurtled into a clear lead on the run to the second-last – 3-1 favourite Thunder Rock and Sean Bowen had drawn stumps two fences earlier – victory for the Paul Nicholls sixyear-old looked assured.
But Sheehan, at his masterful best aboard Datsalrightgino in the Coral Gold Cup at Newbury two weeks earlier, urged his mount in pursuit to nail the longtime leader strides from the finishing post for a short-head margin.
Success in the £100,000 feature marked a new high for Hobson, based 20 miles from the racecourse in the Gloucestershire parish of Little Rissington, and came after 43 losses at his local track.
Several of those had resulted in silver medals, including Lord Du Mesnil’s second at Cheltenham 24 hours earlier, and Hobson beamed: “You wonder if it’s ever going to happen.
“We haven’t been coming here with a wellhandicapped horse and it has just taken its time. But we have got there in the end. I hoped he would get his day in the sun. “As they went past the post I thought it was a near-miss again, but thankfully the result went our way. “The plan wasn’t to be that far back, but the ground was dead and tiring, and he has timed it to perfection.” Sheehan (above left with Hobson) admitted: “I thought the race may be over and we might be picking up the pieces, but he finished so strongly up the hill.”
Hobson will now prepare Fugitif for the Fleur De Lys Chase at Lingfield on January 21, when Protektorat is likely to be in opposition after returning to form under top weight with a third to Broadway Boy in the following three-mile, twofurlong handicap chase.
Dan Skelton’s eight-yearold finished a tailed-off last of four when defending his title in the Group 1 Lancashire Chase at Haydock last month and the trainer said: “That was much more like it.”
Broadway Boy was scoring at Cheltenham for the third time and handler Nigel Twiston-davies said: “He could go for the National Hunt Chase or the Brown Advisory [Novices’ Chase] come the Festival.
“For a five-year-old to be this good is quite something.”