'He took half his hoof off' - injury blamed as 1-6 chance fails to give Jamie Snowden double

Five of the six favourites won at Hexham but the shortest of them all, 1-6 chance Idy Wood, was unable to provide Jamie Snowden with a double on the day.

The five-year-old was the one to beat in the 2m novice hurdle with his sights lowered following a third-place finish in a Grade 2 at Cheltenham, but he was beaten a neck by 11-1 shot Cracking Rhapsody. 

Yet his stablemate Wendigo was able to make the 300-mile trip north worthwhile with an impressive four-and-a-half-length strike in the bumper under Gavin Sheehan. 

Snowden said: "Wendigo is a nice horse, we like him a lot. It was a case of trying to win and get the job done and he's won well. That was fairly bad ground and he's only a four-year-old so we'll be patient with him, I'd have thought we could look at a better race now."

An injury sustained in running was blamed for Idy Wood's narrow defeat although the winner had shown some useful form, including when landing a Perth bumper in June.

"He got a nasty cut," the trainer explained. "I think he got it at the first when he bunny-hopped and it's taken half of his hoof off. He'll be fine with a bit of TLC and I'd say that explained it. It was still a good run and the winner looked a good horse."

Lucinda Russell had two winners, Inox Allen in the 2m4f maiden hurdle and Clovis Boy in the handicap hurdle over the same distance.

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