Silver Streak may drop into Ascot handicap after Fighting Fifth disappointment at Newcastle

EVAN Williams could drop Silver Streak into a handicap after the eight-year-old produced a somewhat disappointing effort when fourth of six in the Betfair Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Newcastle on Saturday.

Having chased home Sceau Royal on his seasonal debut at Kempton, hopes were high that last season’s Christmas Hurdle winner – owned by Settle farmer Les Fell – would show his best in the competitive Grade One event.

However, Adam Wedge’s mount failed to fire and was beaten eight lengths by Not So Sleepy and Epatante, who dead-heated.

Williams, who trains in Wales, said Ascot’s competitive handicap on the Saturday before Christmas is now under consideration. “He is grand, but he just didn’t jump and you can’t win those races when you don’t jump,” said the trainer yesterday.

“I suppose he will be entered in the Christmas Hurdle, but I might go to Ascot with him and drop him down. I was just disappointed by the way he jumped.

“We will have a little check to see that we are not missing something, but he is grand in himself and seems absolutely fine.

“He popped over a couple of hurdles on Monday, just because I couldn’t quite work out why he was so poor, but there was nothing obvious.

“We will put him in everything, so he has options.”

Meanwhile Jonjo O’Neill has ruled Cloth Cap out of the King George VI Chase at Kempton on Boxing Day, despite running “a cracker” when sixth in the Ladbrokes Trophy Chase at Newbury on Saturday.

Under a hefty 11st 8lb, the nine-year-old was prominent in the three-and-a-quarter-mile Grade Three handicap until turning for home when fading under jockey Tom Scudamore.

O’Neill said: “Cloth Cap is grand, thank God. He ran grand. He won’t go for the King George - he is out of that.

“I don’t know yet what the plans are. We’ll see how he goes. He ran a cracker.”

Twenty five horses, headed by dual winner Clan Des Obeaux, remain in contention for jump racing’s mid-season highlight.

They include the Sue and Harvey Smith-trained Midnight Shadow, a winner of last month’s Paddy Power Gold Cup at Cheltenham under Ryan Mania for owners Cyril and Aafke Clarke.

Howeber Waiting Patiently, runner-up last year when trained at Malton by Ruth Jefferson, has been withdrawn by connections.

Now trained in Wales by Christian Williams. the Richard Collins-owned horse disappointied in the Betfair Chase at Haydock and was ultimately pulled up by rider Brian Hughes.

STEEL Helmet was very nearly a fairytale winner at Wolverhampton as trainer Harriet Bethell saddled her first runner since a life-threatening head injury halted her career in 2019.

Bethell suffered a heavy fall on the gallops at her yard near Hull and was hospitalised for nine months, six weeks of which she spent in a coma.

Her father William took over the running of the stable while his daughter learned to walk again and was treated by specialists after losing the ability to undertake basic tasks such as holding a toothbrush.

Bethell recently raised over £50,000 for the Injured Jockeys Fund by walking a lap of the track at Pontefract and continued her incredible recovery by taking charge of her first runner since 2019 in the Betway Casino Handicap.

A 66-1 shot partnered by Josephine Gordon, the chestnut defied those sizeable odds to finish second behind Alan King’s 9-2 chance This One’s For Fred.

“I thought that he would outrun his odds,” said Bethell. “You don’t really know with a horse like him as he’s a bit moderate, but he’s a dude.”

The gelding looked like the winner of the race until he was headed in the final furlong, a performance that reminded Bethell of his poignant victory at Lingfield in August 2019 when she was in hospital and her father was training the string.

“I thought he looked a bit like Lingfield, when he won there after my accident,” she said.

“He’s the first horse I trained on the Flat to win, I bought him off my old boss (Brian Ellison) and he’s what dreams are made of, he is.”

The race provided another milestone for Bethell as she also saddled Steel Helmet prior to the race, a task she had not undertaken since her accident.

“He’s a darling to tack up, me and Mum saddled him today and I’ve not done that on my own,” she said of the seven-year-old.

“Mum wouldn’t have felt confident on her own so I was in there to help, which was cool.”