Cloth Cap will target Grand National after Ladbrokes Trophy victory

O’Neill, Scudamore and Hemmings, three names synonymous with National Hunt racing over the last half century, combined to land the Ladbrokes Trophy at Newbury with the 9-1 runaway winner Cloth Cap on Saturday.

As a jockey, Jonjo O’Neill’s best effort was when second on Tamalin behind Zeta’s Son in 1976. As a trainer, jump racing’s biggest handicap steeplechase outside Aintree had, hitherto, been one of the few big staying races to have eluded him.

Trevor Hemmings, whose favoured headwear is a cloth cap and won the race with Many Clouds in 2014, substantially downsized his string in the summer.

But he clearly knew what he was doing keeping Cloth Cap, who made nearly all the running under Tom Scudamore, now, along with the late Willie Robinson, the most successful jockey in the race with three wins.

Apart from having bottom weight of 10st, the key ingredient to the eight-year-old’s success, was the good ground because he is not half the horse on soft and O’Neill even confessed to having been worried about the 3mm of rain which had fallen overnight on Newbury.

But he bounced off it and when he was not in front on his own he shared the lead with the Scottish raider, Aye Right, who ran a terrific race to finish second conceding a stone to the winner. But he had no answers to Cloth Cap who galloped away from him like a fresh horse from the second last to win by 10 lengths.

The Conditional, last year’s runner-up, was a length and a half back in third. Vinndication, the 15-2 joint favourite, might have been a hard luck story - he was still going well in close-up third when he fell at the fifth last.

“He was loving it,” said O’Neill of the winner. “You can see by the way that he was jumping off the ground how much he needs it. All I said to Tom was: ‘He gets four miles (he was third in the 2019 Scottish National) – the rest is down to you.’ He’ll probably get in the Grand National now and he would probably get good ground there.”

Scudamore was a de facto third-choice jockey for the horse, with Jonjo O’Neill Jnr unable to do 10st and Richie McLernon joined at the hip with Regal Encore, who ran well for a long way.

“All I wanted to do was make sure I got a good start because I thought if I got behind I wouldn’t catch them up,” said Scudamore. “But when he winged the first ditch I thought I might be in for a thrill. When I was still in front at the cross fence I thought ‘if I get blamed for going too fast, I’ll blame the trainer for having him too fresh!

“It’s the first time he’s had his ground since the Scottish National. I went down to Jackdaw’s Castle to school him earlier in the week and bored Jonjo to death with a few stories. He and dad go way back. He’s just about the best trainer of a staying chaser in the country so it’s great to win it for him and for Mr Hemmings.

“Growing up, as a family we always regarded the Hennessy as one of jump racing’s Classics so to win it again is a great thrill.”

Harriet Graham, who trains just eight horses in the Borders and travelled the six hours down from Kelso in the lorry despite having a broken pelvis, certainly reckoned Aye Right’s performance was better than any painkiller.

“He ran a marvellous race,” she said. “All week I’d been wondering if we were getting above ourselves coming down south and taking on all these great trainers. I think we’ve got a really nice horse and we won’t change anything; he will still come in muddy from the field and still be cantering across the Cheviots.”

Closer to her home at Newcastle, Epatante, the reigning Champion Hurdler, got the defence of her title off to an impressive start with a consummate victory in a dramatic Betfair Fighting Fifth Hurdle.

Not So Sleepy refused at the first and then, loose, carried out Silver Streak at the second. But when Aidan Coleman let out an inch of rein after the last, Epatante left Sceau Royal standing to win by four and a half lengths.

“It’s a relief as much as anything,” said Henderson. “It shows there was no fluke about last season. I thought she was great, she’s a proper hurdler, quick and fast. That brings her into Christmas (at Kempton) nicely.”