'Everyone had written him off' - Thyme Hill bounces back to land Grade 1 glory

Pressure off, cheekpieces on proved to be the perfect combination for Thyme Hill and he confounded expectations with a dominant victory in the Grade 1 Ladbrokes Kauto Star Novices' Chase.

Trainer Philip Hobbs pondered a return to hurdles for Thyme Hill in the immediate aftermath of his comprehensive defeat by McFabulous at Newbury last time, but the tables were turned in no uncertain terms at Kempton as Thyme Hill charged to a 15-length victory under Tom O'Brien.

Such was the lack of interest in Thyme Hill – only 40-1 shot Mortlach started at longer odds in the five-runner field – that O'Brien felt able to sit quietly and let his rivals get on with it, hoping to swoop into contention unnoticed late on. It proved to be exactly the right ploy.

"I was disappointed after Newbury but it was the fastest ground he'd raced on and he was ballooning fences, and you can't get away with that," O'Brien said. "We put the cheekpieces on and the ground was better suited to him today.

"I did have more confidence in him today after I'd schooled him in the cheekpieces and the pressure was off as everyone had written him off after last time. I rode him with more confidence because of the ground and hoped they would cut each other's throats up front."

Thyme Hill: clears the last well to claim his third Grade 1 successCredit: Edward Whitaker

Thyme Hill was shortened to 10-1 (from 16) by Coral for the Brown Advisory Novices' Chase at the Cheltenham Festival, with the meeting set to be his next destination.

Sarah Hobbs, wife of the winning trainer, said: "The cheekpieces have helped and his work has been a lot better coming into this race.

"He's always best when he's fresh, so it might be best to go to Cheltenham with him and then to Aintree. He'll stay over fences now."

Rare delight

Having hoped Rare Edition was a horse good enough to allow him to think about races other trainers get to consider regularly, Charlie Longsdon was not disappointed as the five-year-old took his record to three wins from three over hurdles.

The 2m novice hurdle has been won in the past by the likes of If The Cap Fits, Mister Fisher and Altior, and Longsdon said: "Paul Nicholls and Nicky Henderson have lots of nice horses, we don't, so it's exciting to have a horse like this in the yard.

"We've got a lot of options to think seriously about as he's a talented horse to be able to do that."

Rare Edition: scored in the opening contest at Kempton on Boxing DayCredit: Alan Crowhurst (Getty Images)

Dawning delivers

Grey Dawning may not spend too much time in handicaps, so punters made the most of his debut in the sphere as he returned the well-backed 5-4 favourite for the 2m5f handicap hurdle.

Winning trainer Dan Skelton said: "He's got stacks of ability, and I will look for a nice handicap for him. You'd like to think he will be running outside of handicap company by the end of the season but we have got to let him get there."

The crowd was 12,760 on Monday, up from last year's figure of 11,578 but down on the 2019 attendance of 17,218.

Results, replays and analysis

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