Brewin'upastorm likely to go straight to Aintree after winning £100,000 hurdle

Sunday: Lingfield

Trainer Olly Murphy looked like he needed a stiff drink after watching stable stalwart Brewin'upastorm plunder the £100,000 Weatherbys Cheltenham Festival Betting Guide Hurdle.

A last-hurdle faller when holding every chance in the Relkeel Hurdle on New Year's Day, Brewin'upastorm found an extra gear Shishkin would have been proud of after the final hurdle to come from last to first under Aidan Coleman.

"I didn't enjoy watching that at all," admitted Murphy. "Darver Star had the run of the race and Goshen was going right. You always have to ride Brewin'upastorm with a little bit of room and Goshen was going everywhere we wanted to go and was a right inconvenience, but that's horseracing.

"He's a good horse and done me proud and it's nice he's turned up on the big day. Yes, there were only three runners but that's not our fault and well done to Lingfield for putting on fantastic prize-money. I'm over the moon."

On future plans for the winner, Murphy said: "I'd imagine we'll probably freshen him up and go straight to Aintree."

Bumper success

Our Jester may have been unwanted at the sales but his value is only going one way after he followed up a smooth victory at Ascot with a serene success in the bumper.

The winner towered over his rivals in the paddock and has the physique to excel over jumps, although owner-breeder Gemma Billington was not ruling out a Flat campaign in the future.

Before that he could appear at Aintree's Grand National meeting, although the Champion Bumper at Cheltenham in March remains on the table.

"No-one was interested in him as a yearling so we kept him at home," said Billington, from West Berkshire. "He's our pet and he's improving all the time.

"Everyone is saying jumps and I'm thinking Flat because he's such an amazing mover, but he'll likely have one more run in a bumper this season first."

Motorway drama

Ballygrifincottage overcame some pre-race drama on the M25 to land the Winter Million Novices' Hurdle for the in-form Skeltons.

The horsebox transporting Ballygrifincottage and stablemate Faivoir suffered a blowout close to Heathrow Airport, but no harm was done and both runners arrived at Lingfield with time to spare.

"He was ever so good on the side of the M25," said assistant trainer Tom Messenger. "The tyre had a blowout but someone came within the hour to change it.

"If we'd have sent another lorry, they'd have had to shut the road to swap the horses over, which would have taken longer. Our box driver was nice and cool and so were the horses."

After a one-and-a-half length success over High Stakes, Ballygrifincottage was given quotes of 33-1 for the Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle.

Winning rider Harry Skelton said: "Whatever we do over hurdles will be a bonus and we've got a lot to look forward to."

Clarke in clover

Beaminster-based Ben Clarke celebrated the biggest success of his training career as stable star The Galloping Bear stayed on strongly to land the racehorselotto.com Surrey National.

A dirty scope had ruled the winner out of the Welsh National earlier in the season, with Clarke sitting tight since then and waiting for this race.

"We've got 15 horses and he's the best so to come here and win this today is amazing," said the trainer, who spent nine years with Anthony Honeyball and is now his neighbour.

"We're thrilled to bits and could look at the Haydock Grand National trial next month. The key to him is soft ground."

Results, replays and analysis

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