LALOR TEAM HAS PLENTY TO CHEER
THE prediction by the late Richard Woollacott that Lalor would be the best horse he and his wife Kayley would ever train appeared to be justified when the gelding roared home in the Arkle Trial Chase at Cheltenham.
The powerfully-built six-yearold attacked his fences like he had been doing it all his life, rather than a novice having his first run in a chase.
And he was never asked a question by Richard Johnson when coming home by seven lengths from Dynamite Dollars.
“He took to fences like a duck to water – he’s always been a mega jumper,” said Kayley Woollacott who has now taken over the training licence at the stables in Devon, after her husband took his own life in January.
“I wasn’t watching by the second-last – I saw he had got to the front and that was it! It’s a massive day.
“At Aintree (won a Grade One Hurdle in April) it was very overwhelming and we got sucked in by everything else. We had a proper break over the summer and this is in our own right. As a team we’ve trained him ourselves and that’s really important.
“Lalor was Richard’s favourite horse and he always said, ‘this is the best thing we’ll get our hands on’.”
Lalor is 8-1 from 33-1 for the Arkle at Cheltenham in March with Paddy Power and 10-1 with Ladbrokes. Kalashnikov heads the betting at 11-2 with Betway, with Lalor at 8-1
“We’ll now have to think about the Arkle,” added Woollacott. “He’s done it probably better than I thought he would, so we’ll enjoy it.
Bounced
“I have a little girl at home [daughter Bella] who will be very pleased with us, so I’ll go home in her good books!”
Sceau Royal, who was ruled out of last season’s Arkle after suffering an injury, bounced back in style when taking the Shloer Chase in the hands of Daryl Jacob.
“That was lovely,” said winning trainer Alan King. “He was very slick. There would not be many quicker over a fence and for his first run since January, I could not be happier.
“We now take on Altior (unbeaten in his nine races over fences) in the Tingle Creek at Sandown next month. It scares the life out of me!”
Nietzsche was a surprise winner of the Unibet Greatwood Handicap Hurdle for trainer Brian Ellison and in-form conditional jockey Danny McMenamin.
In a race reduced to five flights of hurdles due to the low sun, the five-year-old, without a win over jumps since January 2017, reserved his best for the biggest stage as he stayed on gamely to hold the challenge of hattrick-seeking Silver Streak by a neck.
Top-weight Old Guard, a previous winner of the race, ran on to finish third.
“It’s fantastic,” Ellison said. “This horse was third in the (2017) Fred Winter and for some reason he just lost his way last winter.
“I was very optimistic as he has run some good races here. I was just worried he hit the front too early.”