Gary Moore hails long-absent Donald Llewellyn after poignant victory

Tuesday: Kempton

Donald Llewellyn defied a near-two year absence to provide an emotional success when he stormed clear of his rivals in the 1m4f classified stakes.

Trained by Gary Moore and owned by Chris Stedman, the six-year-old had not raced for 700 days, but was an impressive winner.

"I'm really pleased, especially for Chris," Moore said.

"The horse is named after his father-in-law, who sadly died, and his wife is very unwell at the moment. It's lovely for the horse to do that for him today. It's fantastic.

"He'd been off with a few niggles and I was horrified with his draw in stall 11, but he'd dropped to a mark where you'd expect him to be winning off. If he couldn't, you would know he'd not want to be racing anymore."

Donald Llewellyn's victory meant a lot to connectionsCredit: Edward Whitaker

Mitchell making hay

Jack Mitchell continued his flying new year form when Pablo Del Pueblo landed the 5f handicap.

His success made it five wins from the jockey's last 11 rides and took the red-hot Mitchell's strike-rate to 45 per cent in the last two weeks.

Off the mark

Richard Hughes had hit the crossbar in 2023 with six placed runners, but got off the mark for the year at the ninth attempt when Sandy Paradise justified favouritism in the mile handicap.

Results, replays and analysis

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