Pilgrims Bay gives Best the biggest day of his career
PILGRIMS Bay created a 25-1 surprise when he strolled away to success in the BetBright Chase at Kempton. Racing from bottom weight of 10st 2lb for trainer Neil Mulholland and jockey James Best, Pilgrims Bay was passed over by most punters after one win in five starts over fences.
Annacotty and Cocktails were out in front until the latter fell. Double Shuffle took up a more prominent role, but Best bided his time before moving smoothly into contention at the top of the straight.
As last year’s winner Theatre Guide kicked for home and Double Shuffle went with him, the ice-cool Best sat virtually motionless between the two, finally giving his mount the signal after the last.
Pilgrims Bay responded in style, cruising home by half a length from Double Shuffle, with Theatre Guide back in third.
Best said: “It’s days like this that mean so much, this is the biggest day of my racing career. You’ve no idea how much it means and how grateful I am to be given an opportunity on a day like this. He travelled with ease the whole way through, but you can never be confident he will go through with it.”
There was a slight blip in the celebrations as Best was unshipped shortly after the line. He added: “I was trying to pull him up. I delivered him as late as I dare, with the fact he is so quirky, and sure enough he’s dropped his shoulder – you have to expect the unexpected with him.”
Barry Geraghty was taken to hospital for X-rays after a fall at Kempton. His mount, the 8-15 favourite Charli Parcs, came to grief at the penultimate hurdle in the Grade Two BetBright Genius Adonis Juvenile Hurdle. The jockey appeared to take a kick to the upper body from a following horse.
At Newcastle, Mysteree showed plenty of heart to claim top honours in the Befred Eider Chase and make it a 24 hours to remember for trainer Michael Scudamore.
The nine-year-old, sent off a 10-1 chance for the extended four-mile feature, began to falter slightly after the last after jockey Robbie Dunne had seized the inititative, but Knockanrawley could not get back on terms, going down by four lengths. Shotgun Paddy, the 6-1 favourite, claimed third with Harry The Viking plugging away for fourth.
Scudamore – who marked his 33 rd birthday on Friday with victory in the Devon National courtesy of Kingswell Theatre – could now look towards the Coral Scottish National at Ayr on April 22.
“There are no concrete plans now,” Scudamore said. “All being well, we will probably give him an entry in the Scottish National but that will obviously depend on the
ground. The last few years it has been good, good to soft ground, so hopefully we could be due a softer one this year.”
In the Betway Winter Derby at Lingfield, Convey finally landed a Group Three prize.
The five-year-old has always been held in high regard by trainer Sir Michael Stoute and while he has been placed in Pattern company more than once, Convey never managed to get his head in front when it mattered.
Sold by Khalid Abdullah for 130,000 guineas at the end of last term, Convey repaid more than £56,000 to new owner Robert Ng with his last-gasp success in the hands of Andrea Atzeni.
The withdrawal of ante-post favourite Mutakayyef through injury doubtless eased the task, while eventual 7-4 favourite Battalion threw away any chance of success when completely missing the break.
Just as it looked as though Pinzolo might hang on, Atzeni’s mount came flying down the outside to win by a neck, with Absolute Blast a further head back in third. Solar Deity, pulled up early on, had to be put down.