Iberico Lord strikes Newbury double for Henderson after Shishkin success
Iberico Lord, at 11-2, completed a double on the card for Nicky Henderson and Nico de Boinville in the Betfair Hurdle on Saturday, thanks to a perfectly-judged ride by his jockey, who scraped the paint against the inside rail for much of the way before taking charge on the run to the final flight.
De Boinville spent several weeks on the sidelines due to injury at the start of the year and had only one win to his name in 2024 before Saturday’s valuable card. He enjoyed a comfortable success on Shishkin in the Grade Two Denman Chase, however, before his two-and-a-quarter length defeat of L’Eau De Sud, a 28-1 outsider, completed a 10-1 double.
“He’s seen it out really well on this ground, which was really hard work,” De Boinville said. “I’d say it was against him last time, but we’ve made amends today.”
Earlier on the card, the popular but mercurial Shishkin had recorded his first victory for 10 months in the Denman Chase, finishing four-and-a-quarter lengths clear of Hitman, and is unchanged at around 8-1 with most firms for next month’s Cheltenham Gold Cup.
There was no hint of the mulishness that had seen Shishkin refuse to start on his intended comeback run at Ascot in November, and Henderson’s chaser stayed on well after a slight mistake at the final fence.
“Hopefully we’ve got the starting bug out of our head,” Henderson said. “He was faultless there, even better than he was [before falling two out in the King George] at Kempton, to be honest. You could look back and say that he could possibly have won the King George. That would have put him in the [Gold Cup] picture, this has put him in the picture, let’s go.”
Quick GuideGreg Wood's Sunday tips
Show
Lingfield: 1.27 Mick’s Spirit, 1.57 Unavailable, 2.27 Sennockian, 2.57 Repartee, 3.27 The Bunt, 3.57 Kento, 4.27 Stopnsearch.
Exeter: 2.05 Trelawne, 2.35 Lowry's Bar, 3.05 Favour And Fortune (nb), 3.35 Hititi, 4.05 Galia Des Liteaux (nap), 4.35 Run To Milan, 5.05 Clap Of Thunder.
Edwardstone, the 2022 Arkle Trophy winner at Cheltenham, also broke a long losing streak with a dominant, front-running display in the Game Spirit Chase. Alan King’s 10-year-old had the race won when Boothill, the second-favourite, felt at the second-last and coasted home 40 lengths clear of the runner-up, Funambule Sivola.
He was cut to around 8-1 for the Queen Mother Champion Chase next month, in a market headed by El Fabiolo, last year’s Arkle Trophy winner, at 4-9.