'It's a while since I've been here' - Track And Trace finds another Grand National for returning Jonjo O'Neill

Jonjo O'Neill's last visit to the track was that long ago he cannot remember it, but he will not forget this one as each of his three runners won and he landed the North Yorkshire Grand National.

O'Neill rode numerous winners at the venue in his days as the north's leading jump jockey. He has done nearly as well with his runners as a trainer, and he was spot on in his judgement that seven-year-old Track And Trace was ripe for a step up in trip and class, reaping the reward with success in the feature event of the course's winter season.

The 7-2 favourite was having just his third chase outing but jumped soundly, hit the front three out under Richie McLernon and held on by two and a quarter lengths.

"It's a long trip so he was probably getting a bit tired," said the trainer. "I was gambling on him staying but I thought he would. He made a couple of little errors but he hopped away grand. I hope he can move up the ladder a little bit."

O'Neill is based nearly 200 miles away but also won the 3m1f novice handicap chase with Time For A Pint and the 2m3½f novice hurdle with Hasthing, both ridden by McLernon.

"I've had worse days!" he said. "It's a while since I've been here, although it was a lucky track for me as a jockey and I rode plenty of winners. It's been lucky for me as a trainer as well, it's a great little track. The facilities are really nice now." 

Jacob is wide awake 

Daryl Jacob is a rare visitor to Catterick so he tapped into some local knowledge before winning the opening 1m7½f mares' maiden hurdle.

He had ridden in just 12 races here previously, fewer than on any British jumps course still operating, and he stayed overnight with former jockey Andrew Thornton, who stressed that he should walk the track beforehand.

Jacob took the advice, spotted that the best ground was on the outside, and kept wide on the Stuart Crawford-trained 11-4 favourite Brucio, who scored by a ready ten lengths.

"The whole way the ground was freshest where I was," he said. "She relished the ground. It was a very weak mares' maiden but this was an ideal race for her, the ground was right and everything fell into place. She seems to be getting the hang of things." 

Minnie muffs it

Henry Daly was three from six in the past five seasons at Catterick and looked sure to make it four from seven when Minniemum went to the last flight in the 3m1½f mares' handicap hurdle with a handy lead.

But she made a mistake, unseated Richard Patrick and allowed the Sue Smith-trained It's Maisy to come from fourth place and lead on the run-in.

"It's just unfortunate, one of those things, and I feel sorry for the owners and the stable staff at home," Patrick said. "I thought today she'd lose her maiden tag and everything had gone right, she'd got into a nice rhythm. It's a shame. We'll try again."

Read these next:

'We'll try to better it' - Alan Brown chasing improvement after recording first winner of 2024 

'We're hoping he's a Grade 1 horse' - Chapeau De Soleil makes seamless transition to hurdles 

Five years of profit in a row for Ante-Post Pricewise - subscribe to Members' Club now with 50% off for Tom Segal's Cheltenham tips! 

Do you want £700+ of free bets? Racing Post have got the best offers, all in one place. Visit racingpost.com/freebets to find out more.