'We'll keep pushing the bar up' - Fergal O'Brien hits landmark 105 winners

Wednesday: Wetherby

Timeless Beauty’s victory in the 3m handicap chase under Adrian Heskin sealed a landmark 105th winner of the season for Fergal O’Brien, surpassing last season’s previous best with more than two months of the season to go.

Only Donald McCain has sent out more winners in 2021-22 and O’Brien, who sits on the same tally as champion trainer Paul Nicholls, was pleased to prove emphatically that last season’s effort was no flash in the pan.

O’Brien said: “We’re delighted. It’s a lot of hard work from everyone at home. Last year when we got over the hundred everyone said the bar is high now and I said we want to set the bar high.

“We’ll keep reaching and pushing the bar up. To do it two seasons in a row it’s sometimes tricky because you’ve got to have a lot of horses to do that and to have a lot of horses you’ve got to work very hard.”

Timeless Beauty is owned by the McNeill family, who have typified the growth in a powerful ownership base. "We’ve got some great owners who’ve been very supportive,” said O’Brien. "The long- and short-term owners have all been very good to us.

“We won’t have loads for Cheltenham. We’ll have one or two and see how we go. We haven’t quite got the quality yet but I’m hoping they’ll come sooner rather than later."

Exciting Erne

The Nick Kent-trained Erne River boosted his growing reputation as he justified odds-on favouritism to seal a fourth successive win in the 2m5½f novice chase under Charlie Hammond.

Erne River: unbeaten over fencesCredit: Tim Goode (Getty Images)

The seven-year-old followed up last month’s chase debut success at Doncaster with an impressive 13-length victory and Kent indicated that Ayr’s Future Stars meeting or Aintree’s Grand National fixture in April could be potential targets, after gaining more experience in another novice chase.

Others to extend winning streaks were the Nicky Richards-trained Findthetime in the feature 2m3½f handicap hurdle and Laura Morgan's Hasankey in the 1m7f handicap chase, with Brian Hughes and 10lb claimer Lewis Dobb in the saddle respectively.

Results, replays and analysis

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