Ultra-Confident Gavin Sheehan Rides Favorite to Victory in Impressive Comeback

The jockey was ultra-confident on the 13-8 favourite. Despite being last four fences from home, he made smooth headway and ended up winning by a comfortable seven and a half lengths for trainer Richard Hobson. Sheehan admitted that he had not planned to come from so far back and expressed his surprise at the race’s pace. He stated, “I hold my hands up, I was a bit asleep at the start. We were further back than we wanted to be, but when he went through the gears, he gave me some feel.”

He added that the good ground suited the horse and that he was always confident they were going to come back to him. After landing the novice handicap chase by two and three-quarter lengths on the 15-2 shot, jockey Henry Brooke indicated that they had decided to drop the horse back in trip and use cheekpieces based on a decision by Josh after the previous race at Newcastle.

He acknowledged that the horse had been in at the deep end on its first two starts but had run very creditably, saying, “He’s improved again and will probably go straight to the EBF Final at Sandown.”