The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
1-2 for George in Perth feature
Kilbree Kid gets better of stablemate to chalk up fifth success at course
Tom George sent out a 1-2 in the feature race at Perth yesterday as Kilbree Kid led home Always On The Run to win the Lodge At Perth Racecourse Handicap Chase (for the Kilmany Cup).
Winning jockey Ciaran Gethings said: “It’s the first time I’ve won on him but he loves it here.
“He hit a bit of a flat spot and I thought Adrian (Heskin) had got away turning in but when I gave him a slap he really responded.”
Kilbree Kid went on to beat the 9-4 favourite by three-and-three-quarter lengths for a fifth course success.
Davy Russell and Gordon Elliott teamed up for a short-priced double with Penny Jane and Fagan.
An odds-on favourite in the opener, Penny Jane duly obliged in the fourhorse race to hold off Dear Sire by a length and a quarter.
Fagan was able to cruise home as only two of the five runners finished in the Heineken UK Novices Chase.
Favourite Beat That fell at the last, leaving Elliott’s charge well clear of Solway Trigger in second place.
Lucinda Russell’s Urban Kode was a distant third to Green Zone in the Perth Racecourse Supports Racing Staff Week Handicap Hurdle.
Heskin is looking forward to his ride on Noche de Reyes in the feature race at the Scone Palace course today.
The George-trained top-weight faces five rivals in the £14,000 Heineken Handicap Chase over two miles.
Heskin said: “He’s been running consistently with those seconds in his last three races at Stratford, and Ludlow twice.
“I’d say he’s been unlucky not to get his head in front and hopefully he can go one better this time.”
Among the opposition to Noche de Reyes are Fergal O’Brien’s course and distance winner Owen Na View and David Dennis-trained Deauville Dancer who has won his last two starts at Newton Abbot and Huntingdon.
Dual champion jockey Richard Johnson has rides in the first four races, starting with A Touch Of Spark for Stuart Crawford in the opening Racing Welfare Racing Staff Week Maiden Hurdle.
Camillas Wish, trained by Richard Ford in Lancashire, is a mare on a real roll and she bids to make it five wins in a row in the Perth On-Course Rails Bookmakers Novices’ Handicap Hurdle.
She started with a hunter chase success before adding two wins over hurdles plus a recent handicap chase at Cartmel.