Glory And Fortune

Glory And Fortune put up an impressive performance to win the four-year-old bumper on his racecourse debut. Held up early on by Richard Johnson, he made nice ground down the hill and he moved in behind the leaders at the top of the home straight. He couldn’t get to the favoured stands rail in the home straight, but he picked up really impressively towards the centre of the track, and he bounded away from his rivals up the hill. He stuck out his neck willingly, he showed a really nice attitude.

It looked like a good bumper beforehand, the second, third, fifth and sixth, Cascova, Book Of Invasions, Fearless and Ripplet, had all won bumpers, and they were not conceding weight, while the fourth, Fuseau, had finished a close second to Book Of Invasions in his bumper. This race was won last year by Acey Milan, who went on to win the bumper at Newbury on Betfair Hurdle day, and in 2017 by Cap Soleil, who won a listed mares’ bumper at Sandown next time and who finished second to Laurina in the Dawn Run Hurdle at the 2018 Cheltenham Festival. Trainer Tom Lacey said afterwards that they were going to be patient with Glory And Fortune, that he may not race again until March but, if he had a change of heart, the Newbury bumper would be a legitimate target.

Cheltenham, 1^st January 2019