Victtorino

Victtorino stayed on best of all to take third place in the Coral Gold Cup at Newbury on Saturday. Well back in the field from early, his jumping was hit and miss, and he appeared to get outpaced when they quickened at the end of the back straight. Last of the 12 remaining runners jumping the cross-fence five from home, detached with Sam Brown, Venetia Williams' horse stayed on well from the fourth last fence for Charlie Deutsch, finishing best of all to take third place behind Kandoo Kid and Broadway Boy and just in front of French raider General En Chef. He was fastest of all through the final four furlongs, 0.42secs faster than the second fastest according the RaceIQ, the winner Kandoo Kid, and almost a second faster than the third fastest, the runner-up Broadway Boy.

This was Victtorino's first run at Newbury, and he made mistakes. He made mistakes in each of his three races at Ascot last season too, but he won two of them, and he will be of particular interest if and when he goes back there. He holds an entry in the Silver Cup at Ascot's Long Walk Hurdle meeting just before Christmas, a race that he won last year off a mark of 142. He is only 1lb higher now than he was then.

Newbury, 29^th November 2024