Djelo tames the storm to blow away Peterborough Chase rivals and confirm star status for delighted Venetia Williams

It is hard to look stylish in howling wind and horizontal rain – yet somehow Venetia Williams managed it, and so did Djelo.

The weather was at its foulest on the edge of the Fens, with the wide-open spaces offering no protection from the final assaults of Storm Darragh. These were conditions that demanded deep reserves of class, courage and fortitude from horse and rider, which Djelo and Charlie Deutsch displayed in abundance to win the Grade 2 Peterborough Chase.

Williams, sporting a dark coat with gleaming buttons, and gripping the brim of her broad hat with a gloved hand in a vain attempt to shelter from the storm, spoke with pride and purpose in the winner’s enclosure about a horse she views as a rising star in her stable.

“He’s so clever at the obstacles – whether it’s long, short, tight or whatever he’s so quick and he’s such an intelligent horse,” she said. “I’m so thrilled; thrilled for his owner, Pete Davies, for Charlie, who has ridden him beautifully, for the horse and for Care, who looks after him and rides him all the time. It was a wonderful performance. 

“I like to think we have two really good flagbearers in the three-mile division with Royale Pagaille and L’Homme Presse and it’s great that this horse is stepping up to that sort of level now. His mark was 149 before today and he’s going to go fairly well north of that, but the other two are in the upper 160s so he’s still going to be below them, but he’s operating in a different division.”

Williams clocked this was likely to be Djelo’s day as the horses approached the turn out of the back straight for the final time. By then the frontrunning Nickle Back had run his race and both Protektorat and Ginny’s Destiny were finding conditions too onerous.

Djelo: clears the last under Charlie DeutschCredit: Francesca Altoft

Djelo, on the other hand, was supreme and serene, skipping over the final two fences to coast to victory under Deutsch. Protektorat and Ginny’s Destiny went at each other to try to secure second, with the former asserting in the closing stages without ever looking like bothering the winner.

The victory was Djelo’s first since he landed a Grade 2 novice chase at Ascot last year, since when he has finished placed in the likes of the Scilly Isles Novices’ Chase, the Haldon Gold Cup and the Turners Novices’ Chase at the Cheltenham Festival.

Deutsch said: “I’m really pleased for the horse because he’s gone so close in some good races but hasn’t won for a while.”

Protektorat will return to racing left-handed after jockey Harry Skelton “had a row with him” for the entire race, according to trainer Dan Skelton. The Fleur de Lys Chase at Windsor is his target, while Paul Nicholls said Ginny’s Destiny would head for the Cotswold Chase.

Djelo was given a quote of 20-1 by Paddy Power for the Ryanair Chase at the festival, but thoughts of where the six-year-old might head next were carried off in the wind. “I don’t know, ask me tomorrow,” Williams said.

Ryanair Chase (Cheltenham, March 13)
Paddy Power: 6 Gaelic Warrior, El Fabiolo, 8 Grey Dawning, Il Etait Temps, Spillane’s Tower, 10 Found A Fifty, 10 Jonbon, Found A Fifty, 12 Envoi Allen, 14 bar.

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