TREVOR WOULD BE UP ON CLOUD NINE
CLOUDY GLEN sprang a 33-1 shock for an emotional Ladbrokes Trophy victory in the colours of the late Trevor Hemmings.
Former Blackpool Tower owner Hemmings, one of jump racing’s most enthusiastic supporters, died last month aged 86.
The three-time Grand National winner had seen his silks carried to success by yesterday’s sixth home Cloth Cap in 2020 – and the quirky Cloudy Glen put his best foot forward to fend off Fiddlerontheroof.
The win, two days after his memorial service, was Hemmings’ fourth overall in the iconic Newbury steeplechase that began as the Hennessy Gold Cup in 1957, and Cloudy Glen’s trainer Venetia Williams smiled: “It was written in the stars – Trevor was looking down.
“Cloudy Glen has had a wind operation since the last time he ran. He’s always been a weird one but he did a piece of work last week and I thought, ‘Blimey! Where’d that come from?’.
“I decided then I was going to run him in this race,” said the trainer, who saddled Teeton Mill to victory 23 years earlier.
The triumph was the biggest in the career of jockey Charlie Deutsch, 25, completing a rebuilding job after being sentenced to 10 months’ jail in May 2018 for dangerous driving while over the drink-drive limit.
He said: “This is the best day ever – I can’t believe it. It’s huge for me and to do it in such distinguished colours is so special.”
At Newcastle, the judge couldn’t separate title holder and 11-8 favourite Epatante and 18-1 Not So Sleepy in the Grade 1 Fighting Fifth Hurdle.
Epatante, the 2020 Champion Hurdler, was cut to 10-1 (from 14-1) to regain her crown at Cheltenham in March.