Sean Bowen rides his brother's first winner as the outright trainer from family yard

Mickey Bowen enjoyed a winner on his first day with runners since becoming the outright licence holder at the family yard when Gavin dominated the 2m handicap hurdle.

Bowen joined his father, Peter, on the licence last season and is at the helm for the new campaign.

Gavin sealed a treble for the trainer’s brother, Sean, who was successful on the Warren Greatrex-trained Golan Loop in the 2m6f novice hurdle and Stumps Or Slips for Olly Murphy in the 2m5½f handicap chase.

Mickey Bowen said on Sky Sports Racing: “It’s brilliant to get an early winner and several of our horses have run well today.

“Me and Dad had 45 winners last season so it would be great to get up to 50 this season. Not much has changed at the yard and not much will change – if I do half as well as Dad did, I’ll be happy.”

Poignant success

The Wire Flyer was a poignant winner of the 2m4f handicap hurdle run in memory of his joint-owner and Ffos Las regular, Tommy Williams.

Elizabeth Gale’s mount defied 66-1 odds to score by five lengths off bottom weight for trainer Alison Thorpe.

Yard flagbearer

Lively Citizen improved his record over fences to 3-8 with victory in the feature 2m handicap chase.

The DJ Jeffreys-trained ten-year-old, second in the Imperial Cup in 2022, made smooth headway into contention before scoring by six-and-a-half lengths under Toby McCain-Mitchell.

Read these next:

New start for Bowen family as father Peter hands over training licence after 30-year career 

Six-horse trainer enjoys 'extremely special' first winner in almost two and a half years with bargain £3,000 buy 

Looking for free bets? Racing Post have got the best offers, all in one place. Visit racingpost.com/freebets to find out more