'He's a great prospect' - Soft Risk defends unbeaten record with ease

Wednesday: Kelso

Nicky Richards insists the priority for exciting prospect Soft Risk will be further experience, as he believes he could take "high rank" when tested over fences.

Soft Risk was 2-9 favourite to stretch his unbeaten record to three in the two-mile novice hurdle, and his class came to the fore as he eased to a 22-length victory under Brian Hughes.

Although impressing once again, Soft Risk's credentials will not be tested at a high level just yet. Richards regards him as a top two-mile chaser, a division he knows well having trained Simply Ned to two top-level wins at that distance.

"He's a lovely, big horse," the trainer said. "He's only had the three runs but his jumping just wants to improve a little bit. It was job done and onwards and upwards.

"He's a great prospect. You'd hope he'll take fairly high rank among the chasers, so he could do with a bit more racing and practice. Maybe we'll see about a race under a penalty. We might take that in and then we'll dip our toe in a bit.

"There's plenty of good races at two miles. He's got bags of toe and it's great to have a horse like him."

Soft Risk has now won his three races by a cumulative 36 lengths.

Two winners

Ryan Mania had a successful afternoon with a double on Cedar Hill for Sandy Thomson and Millarville for Harriet Graham.

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