Chieftain’s Choice takes charge for emphatic hurdle success

On a card that was decimated by 20 non-runners on account of the fast ground a well-thought-out plan was rewarded in style when the nine-year-old Chieftain’s Choice netted the £9,357 first prize for the 2m½f handicap hurdle.

Although normally a hold-up horse, trainer Kevin Frost reckoned there was no front-runner in the six-horse field so he advised young Sam Coltherd to make his own running and it worked to a tee.

Dictating the fractions to a nicety, the rider kicked on coming into the straight and following the heavy fall of his nearest rival Harefield, who hampered a couple of his rivals, he galloped on strongly to home eight lengths clear.