Chris Honour trebles seasonal tally with a double and aims to put 'hard' year behind him after Hillsin controversy

Mayhem Mya’s success in the 2m1½f mares’ novice chase was described as “a big tonic” by Chris Honour after a difficult season for the trainer.

Honour received death threats in July following a controversial ride by Dylan Kitts on Hillsin, who was making his stable debut, at Worcester. Kitts subsequently had his licence suspended while Hillsin and the fellow Alan Clegg-owned Colonel Lesley were removed from Honour’s Devon yard at the trainer’s request.

Stable star Grumpy Charley, owned by Geoff Thompson, suffered a fatal heart attack at Newbury last month, the same track where he landed the Mandarin Chase last year.

Thompson bred and owns Mayhem Mya, who justified 5-4 favouritism to get off the mark over fences at the third attempt.

“Geoff has been so supportive for me through my riding career and through my training career and it’s good to have a winner for him today,” said Honour.

“Once you lose a good horse like Grumpy Charley it’s difficult to say where the next one’s coming from but I’ve always believed in Mayhem Mya. When she won her first two bumpers she looked like being very special. There’s not a lot of her and it’s taken us a little while just to try to get her to relax and to learn to race.”

Mayhem Mya (seen winning at Sandown): could run at Lingfield's Winter Million meetingCredit: Alan Crowhurst (Getty Images)

The six-year-old could run in a £45,000 mares’ novice handicap chase at Lingfield’s Winter Million meeting next month.

Honour, who had gone 218 days since his sole winner this campaign, trebled his seasonal tally when Time To Bite took the closing 2m3f handicap chase.

Like Mayhem Mya, the 10-1 shot was steered to success by Bryan Carver, who was riding his first winners since October.

“Bryan’s a massive team player,” said Honour. “We’re only a small yard but we’re a great little team that I’m very proud of. We’re a team that wants to win and go forward. That’s who we are, what we are and what we’ll always stand for.

“It’s been hard with what happened to us in the summer and today’s been a big tonic. We’ve got two runners tomorrow and hopefully they can give us something to smile about through the Christmas period and give us something to look forward to in the new year and leave 2023 behind us.”

Read this next:

'I'm proud of myself for not giving up' - new trainer Brian Toomey off the mark at Kempton 

The Racing Post Annual 2024 is out now! This exciting review of the racing year has 208 colour pages packed with the best stories and is beautifully illustrated with stunning images. The perfect gift at £19.99. To order, click here or call 01933 304858.