Captain upstages star

● Coltherd’s chaser outwits Gold Cup chance at Kelso

Captain Redbeard, sent off at 9-2, upset sole rival and red hot favourite Definitly Red in the £25,000 Malcolm Jefferson Memorial Chase at Kelso.

Sam Coltherd kicked for home from the second last and the pair saw off the Cheltenham Gold Cup-bound 1-6 chance by two lengths.

Winning trainer Stuart Coltherd said: “That was the plan and Sam rode him to perfection sitting on the tail of Danny Cook on the favourite.

“We didn’t want the race to develop into a battle and Captain Redbeard has quite a lot of speed for a staying chaser.

Selkirk-based Coltherd added: “His jumping is better when they go a decent gallop and I’m delighted with that. We only got the all clear to run due to the equine flu outbreak at tea time last night so it was touch and go.

“His target again is the Grand National and he might be a wee bit well in with 9st 13lb now! He may have one more run before Aintree and, like last year, that could even be over hurdles somewhere.”

Nicky Henderson’s We Have A Dream, sent off at 1-4 and for some a live contender for the Champion Hurdle, was an emphatic six-length winner of the £30,000 Timeform Morebattle Hurdle.

Winning jockey Daryl Jacob said: “He did that very nice- ly and we were always in the ideal place. His jumping was pretty good even if he was a little untidy at the last and he felt great. I haven’t spoken to the owners yet regarding Cheltenham so I’m not sure about the Champion Hurdle as they might not want to be too hard on him this season.”

Henderson was completing a short-priced double as the Lambourn trainer took the opening novices’ hurdle with Nico De Boinville-ridden Dream Du Grand Val.

At Sandown today, Danse Idol, who came unstuck on her most recent outing, can regain the winning thread in the Weatherbys TBA Jane Seymour Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle.

Paul Nicholls had given his six-year-old a range of options this weekend, and it is perhaps telling she goes for Grade Two glory here rather than tackling a Listed alternative.

Danse Idol has a 5lb pull for a one-and-a-half-length defeat when upped in company at Haydock before Christmas – a concession that should surely put her in the driving seat now.