'He's a bit of a rev-head' - Lord Baddesley continues Chris Gordon hot spell

Chris Gordon enjoyed a memorable weekend with an ITV double at Newbury on Saturday and Lord Baddesley continued the trainer's fine run with victory in the feature 2m3½f novice handicap chase.

The eight-year-old, who had been held up in many of his previous starts, seemed to enjoy the switch to front-running tactics and was never for catching under Tom Cannon, with the four-timer-seeking Gloire D'Athon finishing second.

"He's a horse who we've generally held up to try and calm him down as he's always been a bit of a rev-head. I had a chat with Tom and we decided to pop him out, as it's a very hard course to hold a horse up at, and he jumped and ran a blinder," Gordon said.

"He went up to 133 over hurdles so he could improve a bit more. When I ran him at Newbury he made a bit of noise and I think he may have a bit of a wind issue, and we'll get that done at the end of the season."

It was the second winner on the card for Cannon after he had carried the green and gold silks of JP McManus to victory aboard the Alan King-trained Klitschko in the 2m maiden hurdle.

Going day

Le Ligerien, who pulled up on his last two starts for Marie McGuinness in point-to-points, made a winning stable debut for Joe Tizzard in the 2m1f handicap chase, winning by two and three-quarter lengths under a strong ride from Brendan Powell.

Another who had been failing to finish his races was Thirtyfourstitches, who had been pulled up in three of his last four starts. The Richard Newland-trained eight-year-old made all on this occasion under Charlie Hammond in the 2m4½f handicap hurdle.

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