Mill Green completes a memorable few days for owners with impressive win

Home-breeders and owners Keith and Rita Brown doubled their tally for the entirety of last season in the space of just two days as Mill Green made a successful switch to chasing.

Chives kicked off a memorable weekend for the couple with a short-head success at Bangor on Saturday, but it was Mill Green who put in the big performance to leave connections dreaming of bigger targets with a smart all-the-way win in the 2m novice chase.

The win was one of two on the day for Nicky Henderson, who also landed the opening 2m4f mares' novice hurdle with Lilly Pedlar.

"I'm so thrilled for Keith and Rita Brown," Henderson said. "They've only got three or four mares, they keep them at home and do a really great job. That's a second winner for them which is great considering they're both home-bred."

Mill Green is by no means a two miler according to his trainer but his natural class prevailed on the day as he held off Monsieur Lecoq by three and a half lengths.

"He wants a bit more than two miles so credit to Nico [de Boinville], that was a great ride. He turned two miles into a stamina test and the horse was very good," Henderson added.

"I think he's badly handicapped so it's hard to find him races. He's proven himself over fences and we'll have to see what there is."

28th time lucky

It took 28 attempts across three years but John Betjeman finally broke his maiden with victory in the 2m novice handicap hurdle for Mark Gillard.

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