'I told Sean to ride him with confidence' - Thunder Rock proves his Premier quality with decisive win

Sean Bowen had his boss to thank after riding the biggest winner of his comeback on Thunder Rock in the bet365 Premier Chase.

The championship-chasing jockey, sidelined for two months after a fall at Aintree on Boxing Day, was quick to thank Olly Murphy after his success on the back-to-form chaser in a £50,000 contest.

“They went quick and every time I gave him a squeeze he picked up for me immediately,” Bowen said. “Olly gave me a lot of confidence going out to ride him. This is by far my biggest winner since I came back, it’s better than 0-100s!”

There was no hiding Murphy’s joy at the result and the trainer said: “I really enjoyed that. I went to Cheltenham in December and I thought I’d set this lad up for a big handicap and he may as well have pulled up. There’s been a bit of an upward curve since then and he ran well at Musselburgh last time. That probably did his confidence a world of good.

“I told Sean to ride him with confidence, don’t get into a battle, you’re the classiest horse in the race and try and make that tell.

“He did just that. Sean has had a horrible injury and it’s take a little while to get back, he’s ridden through pain, chewing painkillers, and it’s been hard. We’ve been having second after second and hopefully that will get him rock and rolling again.”

'Massive' win for Woods

Kielan Woods celebrated his return from a long whip ban by landing the bet365 Premier Novices’ Hurdle on Personal Ambition.

He is fresh from a six-week suspension for overuse of the whip and having scored on his first ride back at Wetherby on Thursday, he took this Grade 2 contest on a progressive five-year-old trained by Ben Pauling for Lynne Maclennan.

“This is massive,” the jockey said. “It’s not easy for Ben Pauling to convince owners to put me up after what I’ve been doing but I’ve learned my lesson and it’s great that Angus and Lynne, who are big owners, have put me up. It means a lot.”

Personal Ambition (right) has the measure of Jango Baie in the Premier Novices' HurdleCredit: John Grossick

The winner was scoring for the third time in four starts and Woods said: “That was brilliant. He stuck at it really well, he was good and tough. He’s very talented but he’ll be a nicer chaser, he doesn’t have much respect for hurdles. He’ll be a good horse when he gets fences.”

Grade 1 winner Jango Baie narrowly failed to defy a 5lb penalty and trainer Nicky Henderson said: “That’s the second time he’s had to come out in really good races with a 5lb penalty, it stops them. You win a Grade 1 but you can’t have your cake and eat it. You pay the penalty.

“He’s a good horse but he wants to go up in trip, two miles-two round here is a bit tight for him.”

Many of Henderson’s horses have been running below form of late and the trainer said: "Of course it's nice to see one run well, I'm conscious of what's happening but it's not a lot of pleasure, I can tell you that.

"To be fair the ground in our neck of the woods is so bad, and our horses always want better ground."

Championship charge

In-form Patrick Wadge extended his lead at the top of the conditional jockeys’ championship by riding his sixth winner in seven mounts on Serious Operator in the 2m5f handicap hurdle.

The 3lb claimer rode a treble at Newcastle and a double at Ayr on his previous two racedays, all bar one for his boss Lucinda Russell, who supplied this 7-2 winner.

“I’m so proud of him,” the trainer said of Wadge. “He’s riding with such confidence and such determination.

“It’s a fickle old world and there’s still two months of the season to go, but it would be great if he could win the title. He’s riding at the top of his game and we’ll support him as much as we can.”

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