METIER continued his meteoric rise with an out-of-this-world performance in the Tolworth Hurdle.
Harry Fry’s exciting youngster is now 3-3 over obstacles and is clear second favourite for the Supreme at Cheltenham.
His ready 10 length success under Sean Bowen had the bookies running for cover, with Paddy Power slashing him into 7s from 25-1 for the Festival opener behind only 11-4 jolly Appreciate It.
And Fry, who barely had a moment’s worry as his horse raced firmly on the bridle throughout, said Cheltenham would likely be his big target.
He said: “Today it was ideal, we didn’t have to make our own running as they went a good tempo.
“He jumped for fun and turning into the straight at the bottom, Sean had a double handful.
“It’s very rare that races go quite so smoothly as that, especially at Grade 1 level.
“He’s a very exciting hurdler. We have got to consider the Supreme.
“I actually thought he would be an ideal horse for the Betfair Hurdle, so he will have an entry in that.
“Mind you, we have probably gone about it the wrong way, winning a Grade 1 by 10 lengths!”
Later on the card, the classy Seeyouatmidnight rolled back the years with a heartwarming win in the £70,000 Veteran’s Chase.
Sandy Thompson’s crocked 13-year-old was officially retired after finishing 11th in 2018 Grand National.
Injury has restricted the multiple Grade 2 winner to just 21 starts during his successful career.
But Thompson has nursed him back to health and he won like a horse half his age under former National-winning jock Ryan Mania.
Thompson said: “If it wasn’t for him, where would we be?
“It’s such a shame he has been a sounder horse during his career, but he has given us so many great days.
“He was officially retired by his owners after the National with suspensory ligament problems.
“But we got him back and started hacking around on him. He still loves it and this has given us a great deal of pleasure.”
Commercial content notice: Taking one of the bookmaker offers featured in this article may result in a payment to SE. 18+. T&Cs apply. Begambleaware.org
Remember to gamble responsibly
A responsible gambler is someone who:
- Establishes time and monetary limits before playing
- Only gambles with money they can afford to lose
- Never chase their losses
- Doesn’t gamble if they’re upset, angry or depressed
- Gamcare – www.gamcare.org.uk
- Gamble Aware – www.begambleaware.org
