Relieved Symonds toasts Royal Claret and power-packed Poste

Tom Symonds showered praise upon the "phenomenal" Royal Claret and jockey Ben Poste as he celebrated at the end of a frustrating afternoon for the trainer.

Symonds had seen four runners at Wetherby and Hereford fail to fire and was forced to scratch two on account of the going before 11-2 shot Royal Claret triumphed in the 3m1½f mares' handicap hurdle under a relentless ride from Ben Poste.

Symonds said: "It was starting to become quite a frustrating day but then she comes along and does it last-gasp – it was great and Ben deserves every bit of the praise he's getting. He knows her very well and that track clearly plays to her strengths.

"She's a phenomenal racehorse for us and the owners are local, which makes victory even better."

Hardy hangs on

Trainer Matt Sheppard was as surprised as anyone to see 50-1 outsider Hardy Articos pull off a shock by prevailing in a photo finish in a thrilling finale to the the 2m3½f novice handicap hurdle.

Ridden by Sam Twiston-Davies, Hardy Articos held off Bring The Action's late thrust by a nose, but Sheppard was quick to credit his new association with former trainer David Dennis for the success.

Sheppard has benefited from Dennis’s decision to move a string of horses away from Tom Symonds’ yard and said: "It was definitely a big surprise but when you’ve got Sam in overdrive in the saddle anything is possible. Hardy Articos is one that David brought along and he deserves a lot of the credit, he is effectively a trainer without a yard."

Results, replays and analysis

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