TWO-and-a-bit circuits around the saucer to win the cup. That is the challenge awaiting the runners in this week’s Chester Cup, run over two-and-a-quarter miles on the tightest track in Britain.

Malton’s Richard Fahey will be bidding to win it for a third time – and to avenge a narrow and unlucky defeat 12 months ago when Angel Gabrial, having come from last to first under a jaw-dropping ride from Jamie Spencer, was run out of it close home and beaten half-a-length by the Marco Botti-trained Suegioo.

It mattered little to Dr Marwan Koukash, owner of both the first and second, but it mattered to Fahey.

The previous year he had provided the first two in Address Unknown – another Koukash horse – and Ingleby Spirit and had also won the famous and historic race with Greenwich Meantime in 2007.

Angel Gabrial, who went on to win the Northumberland Plate last season, is back for more on Wednesday. Spencer will be back in the saddle and the horse goes into the race with a creditable runner-up effort at Ripon recently.

“That race will have put him spot-on,” says Fahey, who is, nevertheless, hardly blind to the fact that the gelding will be conceding weight to every one of his rivals.

“The route he’s taking this season will probably be the same as last year - the Chester Cup and the Northumberland Plate - but he’s got more weight to carry. Will he need some help from the handicapper? We’ll have to see,” reflects the Malton trainer. “But he’s in good order.”

Fahey, who sent out three winners last Saturday, will be strongly represented in the richly endowed event. He will also saddle three other Koukash-owned runners, Duke Of Clarence, a talented but lightly-raced gelding and the mount of David Nolan, the Tony Hamilton-ridden Gabrial’s Star, who has been placed in all his three all-weather starts this year and Gabrial’s King, the mount of Franny Norton, who finished a good second at Ripon a couple of weeks ago.

 

• THERE was a time when Captain Dunne was performing in big races at major tracks. In 2011, he gallantly won the Epsom ‘Dash’ at the Derby meeting, a race in which he’d been beaten only a short-head two years earlier.

Now he’s a veteran at the age of 10, but, as they say, if form is temporary, class is permanent and the evergreen campaigner proved the point at Thirsk last Saturday when showing a clean pair of heels to his junior rivals to post a 25-1 success in the hands of Rachel Richardson, who has now ridden him to his last three wins.

Great Habton trainer Tim Easterby paid tribute to his stable stalwart, whose career earnings stand at more than £195,000. “He’s fantastic isn’t he?” he said. “I honestly thought he’d need the race.

“I’ve only worked him a couple of times up my hill gallop. I don’t ever work him with anything else. He goes too fast. He’d ‘kill’ em,” he added, not altogether joking.

Captain Dunne continued Easterby’s excellent start to the season. He might well have won the Thirsk Hunt Cup on Saturday’s card with the useful Off Art if the gelding, reappearing after a lengthy absence, had not had such a poor draw.

The previous day he scored with Penny Royale at Musselburgh and came within a heartbeat of doubling up with the narrowly beaten Soul Brother.

Earlier in the week, Easterby had sent out a cross-country treble with Kenny The Captain popping up at Newcastle under Duran Fentiman, who also scored on Mick Easterby’s Tamayuz Magic, while Azagal and Stormin Tom doubled up at Nottingham.

 

• IF Brian Ellison enjoyed a day to remember last Saturday, when sending out four winners, then the same applied to Gary Lavery, who joined a rare group of riders who have ridden a Flat and jumps winner on the same day.

The 22-year-old conditional jockey, who rode four winners over jumps last season, took his first mount on the level for five years at Thirsk and caused an upset when Apterix pulled off a 12-1 win over Godolphin’s even money favourite Legend’s Gate in the maiden race.

Lavery, who had ridden one winner on the Flat as an apprentice back in 2009 in his native Ireland, was thrilled to get on the scoresheet but didn’t have long to hang about at Thirsk before he was in his car - heading to Hexham’s evening meeting to ride in the concluding contest at 8.30pm.

Lavery’s delight at riding a winner at Thirsk was nothing compared to the feeling he had when winning Hexham’s handicap hurdle on Vodka Wells, also trained by Ellison, who prevailed at 3-1.

“What a day,” said Lavery, who has reduced his weight to 9st in order to mix Flat with jumping. “It’s a day I’m not going to forget in a hurry.”

Nor indeed will Ellison. The Norton trainer was also successful with Balty Boys, ridden to a decisive success by Richard Hughes in a hot handicap at Newmarket on 2,000 Guineas day, and Samtu, who bounded home by six lengths under Paul Pickard at Doncaster’s evening meeting.

Ellison will be hoping his purple patch continues at Chester this week. His runners include Edge Of Sanity and Buthelezi in the Chester Cup. The former was a York winner last August, while Buthelezi won on his seasonal reappearance at Musselburgh last month and will be reunited with Ben Curtis. Paul Mulrennan will have the mount on Edge Of Sanity.

 

• IN-FORM trainers Julie Camacho and Nigel Tinkler have progressive performers on their hands in Swahan and Normandy Barriere.

Swahan scored in gritty style at Redcar last week, while Normandy Barriere followed up his Redcar success at Pontefract.

Ryedale-trained winners are coming thick and fast at present. Malcolm Jefferson saddled a Sedgefield double last week with Grey Life and Petapenko, while Mark Walford also appeared on the jumps scoreboard with King Of Strings at Hexham.

On the Flat, Jack Garritty reduced his claim to 3lb when scoring a notable Newmarket success on the Richard Fahey-trained Eastern Impact, Nathan Evans rode his second winner as an apprentice with Mick Easterby on Iggy at Pontefract, while fellow claimer Josh Doyle shone at Doncaster on Sheriff Of Nawton, trained by his boss, David O’Meara.

Two other apprentices in the limelight were Luke Leadbitter on the Declan Carroll-trained Pull The Plug at Wolverhampton and Sammy Jo Bell on Fahey’s Simply Shining at Thirsk.

Not forgetting trainer Kristin Stubbs, successful at Hamilton with Bronze Beau, ridden by Shane Gray, wearing the colours of Norton owner Dave Arundale.

 

• HAIL THE HEROES, trained by David O’Meara, finished a creditable tenth in last Saturday’s Qipco 2,000 Guineas.

Aidan O’Brien’s magnificent feat in winning the race for a seventh time with Gleneagles enabled the brilliant Irish trainer to equal the record number of training successes in the season’s first colt’s Classic.

That was achieved two centuries ago by Ryedale’s John Scott, a trainer, who produced legendary exploits from his Whitewall base in Norton, nowadays the home of trainer Mark Campion.