Nigel Twiston-Davies confirms his placing prowess and unveils a possible star

The Racing Post's awards will honour the best (and sometimes worst) performances and raise talking points from the last seven days of racing. This week's winners are . . .

Trainer of the week

Nigel Twiston-Davies

Nigel Twiston-Davies has been placing his horses superbly this season with victories in the Badger Beers Chase, International Hurdle, Rowland Meyrick Chase, Rendlesham Hurdle and several Listed races just to name a few. The Naunton trainer added to his big-race haul with another bold bit of race planning when the novice Undersupervision chose the perfect possible time to get off the mark over fences in the Grimthorpe Chase on Saturday.

Winning rider Sam Twiston-Davies revealed afterwards Doncaster’s prestigious handicap had been the main target for the six-year-old rather than any of his Cheltenham Festival entries, which epitomises the success of the jockey’s father this season in finding the right races for his horses.

Twiston-Davies also unleashed some exciting bumper horses this week, with Sergeant Wilson making a devastating debut at Taunton on Thursday, pulling clear of horses with Irish point and rules form already in the book by 17 lengths under Eddie Edge to give the conditional jockey his first winner of the season.

Spring Meadow completed a double for the yard at Doncaster but the standout performance may have come at Newbury, where the trainer described Weveallbeencaught as similar to his Gold Cup winner Imperial Commander after the £210,000 purchase’s winning debut in the bumper.

'He's similar to Imperial Commander' - Gold Cup dream for bumper winner

Performance of the week

Paint The Dream

Paint The Dream is hard to beat when he’s on the right mark and the eight-year-old was a joy to watch in the Greatwood Gold Cup at Newbury on Saturday when he cruised to a 15-length success from the well-fancied Tamaroc Du Mathan.

The comfortable victory for the Fergal O’Brien-trained gelding, his second win of the season off a rating of 147, was made even more special as Connor Brace was doing the steering in the Grade 3 aboard the horse who is owned by his grandfather David.

Feel good win of the week

Nuts Well

Eleven-year-old Nuts Well was unfancied in the betting at 18-1 for the valuable Premier Chase at Kelso on a second attempt at three miles, having pulled up in the Sky Bet Chase on his first run, but guided by a patient Brian Hughes, the 2020 Old Roan winner took the Listed contest to continue a remarkable season for Ann and Ian Hamilton.

Nuts Well is one of six horses in training with the Hamiltons in Northumberland and while Tommy’s Oscar has stolen most of the headlines this season, it was nice to see Nuts Well have his day in the sun and bring home another £50,000 to a yard that continually punches above its weight.

The Hamiltons strike again as veteran Nuts Well lands big Kelso pot

Jockey of the week

Conor Rabbitt

That win on Nuts Well was one of seven in as many days for Brian Hughes, who maintains his relentless march towards the jockeys’ championship, but it was a jockey at the other end of his career who enjoyed the perfect week as he won with both of his rides.

Conor Rabbitt has worked for the likes of Stuart Crawford in Northern Ireland, but the young conditional made the move to join Nicky Richards this season and he rode a first winner over obstacles for his boss at Carlisle on Monday aboard Better Getalong. The 10lb claimer then got Universal Folly up late to win the opening 2m½f handicap hurdle at Doncaster on Saturday, part of an across-the-card treble for Richards, headlined by Nells Son’s Grade 2 win at Kelso.

Rabbitt’s sole success before this week had come in an Ayr bumper back in November and having trebled his seasonal tally it will be interesting to see how the Cumbria trainer utilises his conditional’s claim in future.

Shock of the week

Bobbie The Dazzler was the 28-1 rank outsider and 10lb out of the handicap in the field of six in the 3m3f handicap hurdle at Sedgefield on Sunday.

However, the eight-year-old, who had been without a win since 2018, defied the odds to score under John Kington on his stable debut for Simon West and provide the North Yorkshire-based trainer with a first winner of the season.

Read more from The Last Word . . .

RPR Analysis: Constitution Hill warrants superior rating despite Jonbon's weekend form boost

The Cook Review: Cormier leads a northern whitewash at Kelso while National contenders limber up

View From The Saddle: ride of a champion – how Brian Hughes made the difference on Nuts Well

Catch our new in-depth review of the weekend's racing every Monday in the Racing Post. With big-race analysis from Grand National-winning jockey Leighton Aspell, Chris Cook's take on the weekend action, eyecatchers from the Raceform team, weekly awards and more, it is not to be missed.