Don Bersy is looking like one for the future for Davies

Don Bersy, ridden by Aidan Coleman, leads the field over the last flight before going on to win the 32Red Casino Juvenile Hurdle at Sandown last month (Picture: Julian Herbert/PA Wire).

JAMES Davies has always been a talented jockey '“ he has just not had a big yard, or high-profile horse, to showcase his horsemanship.

However the hat-trick completing Don Bersy could be that horse after showing guts to land Haydock’s historic Victor Ludorum Juvenile Hurdle for trainer Tom Symonds and to the evident delight of connections.

Though the four-year-old, owned by Sir Peter and Lady Gibbings, is likely to miss Cheltenham’s JCB Triumph Hurdle, Davies predicts a big future for the horse.

“The owners don’t want to risk him because he could be special. He’s a lovely horse for the future,” said Davies.

More than a decade since he lost out to Jamie Moore in a four-way battle to be champion conditional, Davies rides predominantly for Symonds and Henry Oliver, who learned his training trade with Yorkshire’s Sue and Harvey Smith.

It has been a frustrating campaign. “Henry’s horses are coming back to form and Tom’s are holding form,” said the 32-year-old, whose father Hywel won the 1985 Grand National on Last Suspect.

Davies himself is only back in the saddle after his own travails on Boxing Day. Despite a heavy fall at Market Rasen, he drove to Wetherby where he partnered Hollywoodien to victory in the Gibbings colours.

“I thought I had only swollen my wrist,” explained the rider. “In the evening, it started swelling up quite badly and I realised I had broken it. I was off for four weeks but this win helps make up for it.”