Baywing set for Festival after big surprise

In the morning, this gentle giant of a horse refused to jump over a small barrel-like fence at the yard of trainer Nicky Richards before being cajoled to do so by his young big-race rider.

Yet, once the tapes went up for this prestigious contest won previously by subsequent Cheltenham Gold Cup hero Looks Like Trouble and RSA Chase hero Blaklion last year, Baywing jumped for fun.

As more fancied rivals crashed out – Captain Chaos on the first circuit and The Dutchman at the fourth last – the eight-year-old retained his rhythm under Ryan Day as the remaining three runners made errors.

The 22-length win over Calett Mad, with Missed Approach and Sue Smith’s Delusionofgrandeur also completing, was even more unexpected because it was just Baywing’s second start over larger obstacles.

He was a remote fourth to the Smith-trained Hainan at Wetherby on his chasing debut last month, and Richards – whose late father Gordon trained the iconic chaser One Man – had not even contemplated entries for Cheltenham.

Now he is considering the four-mile race for amateur riders – Baywing is an out-and-out stayer – provided the ground is no quicker than soft.

“He’ll go round again,” the Cumbrian trainer told The Yorkshire Post in the winner’s enclosure. “He will gallop all day.

“We only ran him to get a bit of experience. I said to Ryan if we are third or fourth, we’ll be delighted.

“We might go for the four-miler at Cheltenham if it is soft.

“Hopefully, next season we can think of the Welsh National and Eider... he’s a mid-winter horse. It’s just about getting experience into him. You’ve got to educate them but there are so few opportunities.

“Mind, I didn’t think he was a 33-1 shot. I said to my driver: ‘Put on £10 each way’. We’ll be stopping for a pint on the way home, I tell you.

“Hopefully, this is not the last time we are talking.”

A horse who had a spell on the sidelines after injuring himself while trying to slide under a gate, Richards opted for the Towton after an impressive piece of work earlier on his Greystoke gallops.

For 22-year-old Day, he was going one better than last week when his mount Looking Well was second to Grand National contender Ziga Boy in Doncaster’s Sky Bet Chase.

He is also the beneficiary of veteran jockey Brian Harding’s injury absence – and an unnamed jockey from Ireland declining the mount on Baywing to the chagrin of Richards.

“I schooled him this morning and he was poor. He just takes a bit of waking up. He refused the first time I asked him to jump a schooling barrel,” said the jockey. “Earlier in the week, he was brilliant. To win a race like this, it means a lot.”

Day, who hails from Cumbria, could not use his weight allowance in the race. Previously with Lisa Harrison, he joined the Richards yard 18 months ago and is maturing into one of the North’s top conditionals. Richards, who speaks with a farmer’s burr and is always resplendent in a Trilby on the racecourse, loves nothing more than training steeplechasers.

From a family steeped in racing, his late father also trained Lucius (1978) and Hallo Dandy (1984) to win the Grand National before the aforementioned One Man’s victory in the 1998 Queen Mother Champion Chase.

Tragedy soon followed – heartbreak when One Man was killed at Aintree three weeks later and then Richards senior succumbing to cancer, the training licence passing to his son whose current string of horses include Simply Ned, a contender for this year’s Champion Chase.

Meanwhile, a future star is Top Notch who was imperious when winning the Grade One Scilly Isles Novices Chase at Sandown.

What Top Notch may lack in size he more than makes up for in heart and completed a stylish success to book his place for the JLT Novices Chase at the Cheltenham Festival after confirming his liking for two-and-a-half miles where the pace is slightly slower.

He was ridden by Daryl Jacob, who was completing a hat-trick in this contest after previous wins on Gitane Du Berlais in 2015 and Bristol De Mai, now a Gold Cup contender, 12 months ago.

Winning trainer Nicky Henderson could not have been happier. “He was great. It is all about confidence,” he said.

“He has just now got so much confidence that size doesn’t matter any more. He is full of himself.

“He was a very good hurdler in his own right but he looks to be a better chaser now, which we never dreamt of.”