A Glory day for Lacey as he bags bumper Ffos Las prize
GLORY And Fortune finally realised his potential when landing Saturday’s Welsh Champion Hurdle, the biggest race in Ffos Las’s calendar.
The Tom Lacey-trained six-yearold ran out a comfortable winner of the £50,000 contest sponsored by the Potter Group.
The race was celebrating its centenary, and while Glory And Fortune may not turn out to be its best ever winner – the likes of hurdling legends Bula, Night Nurse and Sea Pigeon are past heroes – this remained a classy performance.
There certainly seemed to be no fluke about it as he coasted to a comfortable four-length success.
The 11-2 chance was travelling strongly all the way up the home straight and took over before the final flight, eventually easing clear of Dans Le Vent, who took second place for Vale of Glamorgan trainer Evan Williams.
Calico, who was sent off the 100-30 favourite, trailed home a well-beaten eighth.
All in all, it remains something of a mystery why it took Glory And Fortune so long to reach these heights. He made a big impression when winning on his debut at Cheltenham on New Year’s Day in 2019, then followed it up with a victory at Huntingdon on his next start.
It continued a fine start to the season for Lacey, who also landed the valuable novice chase at Chepstow last week with Tea Clipper.
He said of the Stan Sheppard-ridden winner: “That was a really good performance.
“I think he’s just starting to believe in himself after the second wind operation.
“He lost his way a bit but he’s grown back in confidence and we’re over the moon that he has.
“It was always in there and it was just a case of getting him right.”
The main supporting race – the Norton’s Coin Trophy, sponsored by Osteplus Ltd – went the way of Pic D’orhy.
The former high-class hurdler was sent back over fences by trainer Paul Nicholls after failing to reach the heights expected last term.
But the 11-4 chance jumped beautifully here to run out a comfortable winner from Mario De Pail.
They were the only two finishers in a race run in honour of the shock Nantgaredig-trained 100-1 winner of the 1990 Cheltenham Gold Cup.