'He's a lovely young horse' - Constitution Hill's half-brother makes impressive winning debut at Huntingdon

Land Genie has the pressure of being a close relation to the sport's superstar Constitution Hill, but he started off his racing career in impressive fashion with victory in a bumper.

He was bought as a store by Jonjo O'Neill and sold to Terry McKeever, all before his year-older half-brother had started his sensational seven-race streak on the racecourse.

Just a few days on from the latest episode at Aintree, Land Genie appeared to inherit plenty of the family talent as he smartly brushed aside his opposition to win by a length and a quarter. He will now be saved for a novice hurdling campaign next season.

O'Neill told Racing TV: "He's a lovely young horse. I bought him as a store, Terry [McKeever] came in and was looking for a horse to buy and picked him. He's a lucky man.

"It took a long time for the penny to drop and I thought turning in, if he finishes third he'll be doing well. Once he straightened up and was given a smack he realised what he had to do.

"He looks quite a nice horse. We've had a few issues with him, so it's nice that he's come right."

Close call

The stewards decided against overturning the result of the opening 2m4½f conditional jockeys' handicap hurdle after a lengthy inquiry.

Half-a-length winner William Of York jumped in front of runner-up Sonnemoser and veered towards him in the home straight. Places remained unaltered with jockey Tristan Durrell cautioned by the stewards.

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