'I hope he could be a National horse' - Twiston-Davies delighted with Bobby win

Sunday: Wetherby

No sooner had Nigel Twiston-Davies landed a first William Hill Rowland Meyrick Handicap Chase than he set his sights on a third Randox Grand National.

The man who gave us Earth Summit and Bindaree knows just what it takes to triumph at Aintree and believes Good Boy Bobby may have it as well.

He was impressed with how the 4-1 shot jumped and the way he found extra to battle to a length and three-quarter win here, having made the running on stamina-sapping ground.

"That was very gutsy," said the trainer, after breaking his Rowland Meyrick duck on a track where he has won the Charlie Hall Chase six times. "It was a good performance in that heavyish ground.

"He's very exciting and very progressive. I've got to talk to the owners but I hope he could be a National horse, hopefully this season. He stays and he jumps."

Good Boy Bobby earned a 40-1 quote for the National from William Hill, after a race in which Kielan Woods was banned for seven days for his use of the whip on runner-up Lord Du Mesnil.

Jockey Sam Twiston-Davies's first thoughts were for Simon Munir and Isaac Souede's retained rider Daryl Jacob, who is out injured, and he said: "Daryl is always fantastically helpful with the horses. I do ride Good Boy Bobby a bit at home but Daryl is great on him.

"Big respect to Dad for wanting to come and have a go. And to Alice Campbell, who rides the horse out every day and leads him up. She works incredibly hard. It was a bit of a war but he's incredibly tough."

Empire Steel was disputing the lead and going well when he fell at the fourth-last fence but trainer Sandy Thomson was not inclined to speculate on what might have been and said: "We were delighted with how he was going but it's a long way up that straight.

"He's absolutely fine and it was an inexperienced, tired fall, he jumped it well and just crumpled on landing. He's a very raw seven-year-old."

Who wants turkey? There were long queues for fish and chips on a busy afternoon at WetherbyCredit: David Carr

Mixed fortunes

It was an up-and-down day for Dan Skelton, who had to withdraw Debece from the Rowland Meyrick but saw Galia Des Liteaux make a fine start for new owner Michael Ariss with a 30-length win in the 2m3f mares' novice hurdle.

"Michael took the plunge to buy a couple and he's got two very nice mares," the trainer said. "That was lovely.

"She's five and we decided to crack on and get a bit of experience to go chasing next season. She's a big, strong mare. We'll find another race under a penalty before we start thinking fancy but it wouldn't surprise me if she had one more and then went to the Listed three-mile mares' novice at Doncaster."

Debece had been quite a fancy and Skelton said: "He pulled a few muscles. He has a history of fragility – that's horses and he'll be all right on another day."

Stablemate Jersey fell three out when in touch in the 2m3½f novice handicap hurdle won by Garincha then Unexpected Party looked set to win the 2m5f handicap hurdle until caught by The Brimming Water after a less than fluent jump at the last.

Double bubble

Jamie Hamilton won the opening 3m novice handicap chase on Morozov Cocktail for the powerful Tim Easterby yard and completed a double in the closing 2m handicap hurdle on Demi Sang, one of just eight active horses in Sara Ender's Malton string.

Demi Sang was having his first run since he was sold out of Ben Haslam's yard to join Ender, whose father Neville said: "That wasn't expected at all.

"We've done very little with him and I think the change of scenery has made the difference. This is fantastic for our yard – it's a shock but a nice one."

Morozov Cocktail won for Nicholas Wrigley and Tim EasterbyCredit: Andrew Parker (racingpost.com/photos)

Expectations exceeded

Extra Covid-19 protocols did not seem to deter too many racegoers on what is usually the track's most popular day.

"We've had a crowd of 7,000, all pre-sold, and that's slightly more than we thought we'd get," said acting clerk of the course James Sanderson. "We had feared there would be some Omicron-reticence.

"Everyone was really cooperative and came equipped and prepared. There had been fears of a backlog but it worked well."

Replays, results and analysis

The Front Runner is our latest email newsletter available exclusively to Members' Club Ultimate subscribers. Chris Cook, a four-time Racing Reporter of the Year award winner, provides his take on the day's biggest stories and tips for the upcoming racing every morning from Monday to Friday