FOUR-YEAR-OLD Torpillo jumped like an old pro on his way to an impressive chasing debut success on Wednesday.
Nigel Twiston-Davies’ youngster produced several spring-heeled leaps on his way to a decisive victory at Warwick – and he is now likely to have his sights raised significantly.
The gelding had run to a high level in two starts over timber this winter, including when third at Cheltenham last month.
But he relished the switch to the bigger obstacles and he readily saw off a smart field, which featured the likes of Mister Fisher and Lisp, under a fine front-running ride from Sam Twiston-Davies.
Bar a scruffy jump at the last, he was sure-footed under pressure in the closing stages, eventually beating Mister Fisher by three lengths, and a tilt at the Grade 1 Henry VIII Novices’ Chase at Sandown next month now looks on the cards.
Anthony Bromley, racing manager to owners Isaac Souede and Simon Munir, told Sun Racing: “Once he got beat at Cheltenham last time we thought we’d go chasing with him.
“He’d been schooling well at home but it is obviously lovely to go and see them do it out on the track like that.
“We might do what we did with Bristol De Mai when he won on his chasing debut here and go to the Henry VIII at Sandown next month.
“If he comes out of the race alright we will have a very good look at that. He jumps well, he’s proved that today, it’s a good test for a novice around here, those fences along the side come up very quickly.”
Winning rider and Sun Racing ambassador Sam Twiston-Davies was similarly thrilled with Torpillo.
He said: “He jumped well and relaxed nicely through the race, he is very straightforward and it was the perfect start.
“He had been showing up really well at home and he had schooled well so it was exactly what we’d hoped. He came up for me when I asked and was pretty clever.”
