Cheltenham: Fortunate Place is the hero of the Relkeel Hurdle for Nicky Henderson and Nico de Boinville | Racing Information

Fortunate Place introduced itself as a Stayers’ Hurdle contender with a battle-laden victory over the admirable Gowel Street within the Dornan Engineering Relkeel Hurdle at Cheltenham.

Nicky Henderson’s progressive performer had made a profitable return to the Ascot Hurdle and once more confronted Jeremy Scott’s Cheltenham Competition winner Golden Ace, who was despatched off the 5/2 favourite for this New 12 months’s function.

Ridden by Nico de Boinville, Fortunate Place was one of many riders maintaining a tally of Gowel Street’s future as Sam Twiston-Davies tried to deliver endurance to the forefront aboard the robust and constant performer from his father Nigel.

In the meantime, Golden Ace and Gary and Josh Moore’s Salver had been touring in fashion behind as they sneaked into the downhill race for the ultimate time.

With Salver falling brutally within the ultimate and Golden Ace’s stamina starting to fade, it was as much as Fortunate Place to carry again the Gowel Street rally which refused to lie down and compelled the younger contender from Seven Barrows to answer each name.

He returned a profitable verdict by three quarters of a size at odds of three/1, with Henderson suggesting the Cleeve Hurdle could possibly be subsequent as he seeks additional proof to justify a tilt within the Stayers’ Hurdle on the Cheltenham Competition in March, for which Coral went from 16/1 to twenty/1.

Henderson stated: “He is simply the nicest younger horse you may wish to have. He was purported to be a novice at looking and he jumps very well, however I simply have not discovered any alternatives to go chasing and I do not thoughts saying it as a result of he ought to have chased.

“Fortunately we have some actually good novice chasers doing that and he is now again within the Ascot Hurdle and this one, and I believe he is slotted into the staff for the Stayers’ Hurdle. He is staying.

“You possibly can go to Cleeve, however I do not know, operating greater than three miles is all the time going to be an uphill battle and does he want it on the Stayers’ path or not? Nico and I had a quick chat afterwards and we We have determined he ought to be given an opportunity on the Stayers, however ought to we check this earlier than March as we’re fairly assured he’ll keep.

“He was ridden to take the chance out of the race immediately and we needed to trip him as a stayer immediately, we needed to pace him up and preserve going and take the chance out of the quicker horses, which he did , then he lowered his head and fought properly.

“It’s a division that’s open and I believe he’s earned his ticket to the Stayers. We don’t have anything within the race.

“I do not assume we now have to show that he stays alone, we all know he stays and he’s on a progressive curve.

“We expect he is a three-mile runner, he is progressive and I might say it is higher to continue to grow than to throw one other race at him. The one goal of operating at Cleeve is to show he is nonetheless and why do not we ask him that in March moderately than on the finish of January.”