'It's great to get him back on track' - third time lucky for Edwardstone

Wednesday: Warwick

Fortune finally smiled on Edwardstone, who made it third time lucky over fences to score an impressive win in the £20,800 novice chase.

He was a good enough hurdler to finish third in the Betfair Hurdle and fifth in the County last season and has long been seen as a potentially smart chaser by trainer Alan King, only to unseat his rider at the fourth on his debut last term and then be brought down when poised to challenge here last month.

For Pleasure, the horse who had tripped him when falling on that occasion, was in the field again 12 days on but Edwardstone comfortably had his measure as they both stayed on their feet this time and he went on to score by a decisive seven lengths from Stepney Causeway under Tom Cannon.

"That was perfect," a relieved King said afterwards. "It was just what we wanted. His jumping was super and we were delighted with him.

"We're relieved and we can look ahead now, though I have no plans for him yet. I just wanted to get today out of the way.

"It's only 12 days since his last run so we'll go home and have a think. But it's great to get his season back on track as he's a potentially decent novice chaser."

"He was brilliant today," Cannon added of the chaser who was given a quote of 33-1 (from 66) for the Arkle by Paddy Power.

"He was very measured at his jumps. It's nice that he's had a bit of good luck."

No rush with Hartur

Dan Skelton is determined to take things steadily with Hartur D'Oudairies, despite the impressive manner in which the 4-5 favourite saw off his novice hurdle rivals on his jumping debut.

The winner earned a 33-1 quote for the Sky Bet Supreme Novices' Hurdle from the sponsor but the trainer is not about to change the patient approach he has taken with JP McManus's four-year-old.

He told Racing TV: "We got him in the middle of last season after winning an AQPS bumper and the best thing we did was not run him.

"We took our time with him and we'll continue to take our time with him. I know he looked very good and he is very good but I feel like he's raw and we've got to look after him. There's a massive amount of potential there."

Outlining a likely plan, the trainer – who was winning the opener for the third Warwick meeting in a row – said: "We'll go under a penalty in December, flu vaccine over Christmas and then pick and choose in the spring. We're going to go steady, short term anyway."

Skelton and his brother Harry completed a double when West Balboa took the mares' novice hurdle by 17 lengths from £330,000 buy Queens River.

"We've really liked her at home," Harry Skelton said of the winner. "Everything she's done has been nice."

Final fling

Paddy Brennan was delighted to win the veterans' chase on Final Nudge, who was having his first run since finishing third in the Midlands Grand National last March.

The winner is 12 but his jockey said: "He doesn't ride like a veteran. He loved it. It was brilliant. It's testament to everyone who's been involved with the horse."

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