Pirate sails to long-overdue first win

TOM Scudamore helped Jonjo O’neill’s Sky Pirate gain an overdue first win over fences with a stylish success in the Spreadex Handicap Chase at Cheltenham.

Having finished second five times in his 10 previous chase starts, the Jonjo O’neill-trained seven-year-old set the record straight when appearing to appreciate a drop down to the extended two miles.

Anchored close to the rear of the field for much of the race, the 4-1 shot made his challenge going over the last before cruising clear of favourite Ibleo up the run-in to score by three and three-quarter lengths.

O’neill said: “It was great. Tom gave him a lovely ride.

“We always kept feeling he was a bit of an unlucky horse, but we felt the trainer had the trip wrong.

“It is great to have a winner for Martin (Tedham, owner), who is the sponsor of our yard, and it couldn’t happen in a better place.

“We were just a little bit worried about the ground being a bit tacky for him, but that didn’t seem to bother him and everything went the right way. He has come good on the right day.

“The Grand Annual might be the race for him, but we will take it steady and go from there.”

Slad’s Tom George may no longer be able to call on Noel Fehily’s services in the saddle, but the pair celebrated another victory together as Come On Teddy (11-2) stormed to victory by five-and-a-half lengths in the Citipost Handicap Hurdle.

George said: “It is lovely to get a winner for Noel Fehily’s racing syndicate as we had some big days together down the years.

“I bumped into Noel in the summer and said ‘you have all these horses with other trainers, but not me’, and he said I hadn’t offered him one and the only one I had was this one.

“He is a progressive horse and it was a novelty to have one at the right end of the weights.”