BRAVE BRISTOL FASHIONS WIN A Twiston-Davies twist in big chase

GREY DAY: Bristol De Mai heads for victory

BRISTOL DE MAI beat Blaklion in a driving finish to a dramatic Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby.

The grey repelled the late lunge of his stablemate to bag the £44,000 first prize and give Nigel TwistonDavies a one-two.

But the story of the race was the demise of two National Hunt legends: Cue Card and Coneygree. Cue Card fell heavily five fences out when travelling well while former Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Coneygree was pulled up at halfway.

Their jockeys Paddy Brennan and Nico De Boinville bemoaned the low sun and said it contributed to jumping errors in the back straight.

The connections of Cue Card, who won the race in 2015 and who had fallen at the third last in the last two Cheltenham Gold Cups, were almost too upset to speak.

Trainer Colin Tizzard said: “Cue Card was upsides but just got it wrong. But the main thing is that he is okay.”

A dejected Brennan initially said: “Cue Card couldn’t see the fence due to the low sun.”

But he later added: “He just took his eye off the fence and you can’t do that at this level. Any day he is okay is a good day, though.”

Coneygree was dismounted by De Boinville after being pulled up. The rider also blamed that low sun.

Trainer’s wife Sara Bradstock said Coneygree had suffered an over-reach on his left fore and “frightened himself ” when jumping long at one fence but there was no talk of retirement for the horse who won the 2015 Gold Cup.

Meanwhile, Twiston-Davies was winning his fifth Charlie Hall Chase – a record.

He said: “Bristol De Mai will go for the Betfair at Haydock. It’s usually soft ground up there which he loves.

“He was giving Blaklion 6lb so it’s very decent form. Blaklion will go for the Becher Chase at Aintree now.

“I don’t know why I do so well in this race.”

Bristol De Mai’s jockey Daryl Jacob said: “He was a bit fresh early on but I saw Coneygree wasn’t travelling too well and my boy just jumped alongside him. He is a very good horse on soft ground.”

Earlier Brennan had steered Colin’s Sister (10-1) to a shock bet365 Hurdle win for Fergal O’Brien ahead of Wholestone.