One Track Mind on familiar path after Wetherby triumph

One Track Mind recorded three successes at the West Yorkshire track before upsetting the odds to land last night’s Ladbrokes Champion Stayers Hurdle, the day three highlight of the prestigious Punchestown festival in Ireland.

Just six years old, and with bags of potential, One Track Mind is a stablemate of Cole Harden, who won the 2014 West Yorkshire Hurdle at Wetherby before the fabulous frontrunner won last year’s World Hurdle at Cheltenham to announce Greatrex and Sheehan’s arrival in the big time.

Yesterday’s task was made slightly easier by the injury-enforced absence of Colin Tizzard’s Thistlecrack – Britain’s horse of the year was a runaway winner of this season’s World Hurdle under a near motionless Tom Scudamore.

However, One Track Mind’s opponents included Alpha Des Obeaux, the only horse capable of giving Thistlecrack a race in the past 12 months. The favourite was a disappointing third behind the British raider and the rank outsider Jennies Jewell after Ruby Walsh’s well-fancied mount Shaneshill came to grief at the final flight.

This could be just the beginning for the lightly-raced horse who was prominent throughout this three-mile test – an elated Sheehan said the gelding could develop into a Chelten ham Gold Cup contender.

“This is brilliant. We’ve always liked this horse. In the early days we always thought this was going to be the best horse in the yard,” said the former champion conditional.

“He came over here a fresh horse. I was never that comfortable as I wanted to get him a bit closer as the more company he has the better he is. He was fighting down to the last and battled on. I always said he could be a Gold Cup-type horse.”

Greatrex said: “It was a surreal feeling as I was happy with him the whole way round. He’s a real stayer and the aim was to go out and make sure it was a real test. He’s a brilliant jumper and he’ll go chasing next year. He’s big and raw and we’ve brought him along slowly. He’ll improve again with another summer. Gavin has always loved him and persuaded Andy (Weller, owner) to buy him as he’s his sponsor.”

Ed Dunlop is to consider running Amazing Red in a Derby trial after he got off the mark on his second racecourse start in a 10-furlong maiden at Pontefract this week.

The Newmarket trainer was delighted with the Galileo colt’s performance, a half-brother to the stable’s much-missed globe-trotter Red Cadeaux, who amassed almost £5m in prize-money. He holds an entry in the Epsom Derby, though the horse does not hold a Dante entry for York.