Handlethekettle put in a gallant effort on his step up into Graded company, finishing fifth in the Persian War Novices’ Hurdle at Chepstow on Friday.
Seven runners went to post for the first Grade 2 of the season, with Handlethekettle sent off as an 11/1 outsider for the feature race on the Chepstow card. Having led initially, he was headed by Intense Approach after the second and appeared happy to sit behind the front runner. After a couple of poor jumps over the next couple of hurdles, he did get into a good rhythm and travelled well through the mid-stages of the race. Once coming around the final bend and into the home straight, he didn’t quite have the pace of a few of his rivals, resulting in Gavin Sheehan giving him an easy time of things in the final stages. He eventually finished fifth, just over six lengths behind the well-fancied Ryan’s Rocket.
The morning after the race, trainer Jamie Snowden reported:
“He’s still a very inexperienced horse, with it being just his third race under rules, and I think we can forgive him for that inexperience this early in his career. The softer ground in the home straight probably wasn’t caught him out a bit but I was still very pleased with his effort.”
To perform as well as he did in a Grade 2 on just his third rules start is a huge achievement for Handlethekettle and we cannot wait to see his career progress!
You can view Handlethekettle’s profile HERE.
