Blackmill shines as he lands gamble back over hurdles

Jumping is the name of the game unless your name is Blackmill but the David Dennis-trained eight-year-old went some way to redeeming himself when switched back to hurdling in the first division of the 2m7f handicap hurdle.

Despite winning three consecutive point-to-points, Blackmill had flopped over fences and connections almost lost the faith but a decision to revert to hurdles paid dividends as he was well backed to 15-2 from 11-1 before beating Dollnamix.

Assistant trainer Billy Worthington said: “Even though he looked good in landing a hat-trick in points he has never taken to jumping regulation fences and it was something of an afterthought to chuck him back over hurdles to see where we were.