Wetherby success sees Jacob Serge up the ladder

DARYL Jacob says top novice chaser L’Ami Serge has no kinks after confirming his status as second favourite for the Arkle Trophy at the Cheltenham Festival with a bloodless victory at Wetherby.

Even though Saturday’s sedate four-runner race could not have been more different to the test that Nicky Henderson’s chaser will face at the National Hunt Festival, Jacob was content with the six-length win over Tim Easterby’s Run Ructions Run, whose form is a reliable yardstick.

A Grade One-winning hurdler, L’Ami Serge is now unbeaten from two starts over fences – his previous win came in a three-runner race at Plumpton – and the six-year-old is likely to step up in class and head to Warwick’s Kingmaker Chase next month before a date with destiny at Cheltenham.

On this evidence, it is difficult to assess whether this giant horse, owned by Simon Munir and Iasac Souede, will be a match for the hot favourite Douvan in the Arkle – L’Ami Serge could only finish fourth to the Willie Mullins-trained machine in the Sky Bet Supreme Novices Hurdle at Cheltenham last March.

Like at Plumpton, Jacob had to set his own pace and L’Ami Serge gave his obstacles plenty of daylight before getting in close at the fourth and making a slight error. However, the odds-on favourite never came off the bridle and a spectacular leap at the last fence sealed the deal.

“I’m very happy. He’s a class horse,” Jacob, the 2012 Grand National-winning jockey, told The Yorkshire Post.

“He travelled well and got the trip well. It wasn’t ideal. The ground was horrid and he will be a different horse on better ground. I also think he will be better if he gets a lead, which he should do in the Arkle. We’ve had to do the donkey work at Plumpton and now here.

“Yet it’s all about getting experience into him. This was two-and-a-half miles and they say you need a horse that stays to win an Arkle over two miles. The second horse is no mug. There are not many kinks in L’Ami Serge. I can’t wait for March.”

Sky Bet spokesman Michael Shinners concurred – L’Ami Serge’s odds for the Arkle were trimmed a point to 7-1.

After the previous three meetings at Wetherby had fallen victim to the floods, this was a compelling afternoon, sponsored by 188bet, under chilly blue skies which began with the unfancied Sharpasaknife winning the opener in style and providing Malton trainer Malcolm Jefferson with a welcome winner following a lean spell by his own high standards.

The smile etched across Jefferson’s face spoke volumes of what the win meant to him from a personal perspective – David and Mary Fawcus only sent him this late-developing horse last month and the winner has the scope to go steeplechasing in time.

Trainer Henry Oliver and jockey James Davies continued their burgeoning alliance when Seamus Mor took the handicap hurdle with a stirring late run to deny Veinard in the closing stages.

Yet Oliver and Davies were both disappointed with the talented Whispering Harry’s run in the feature chase. He was pulled up in a race won in style by Gardefort for Venetia Williams, who specialises in training mudlarks, and jockey Aidan Coleman.

However, Coleman was denied in the subsequent chase when Azert De Coeur was beaten by Caraline in a thriller. It took a photo-finish to settle the outcome, with the Micky Hammond-trained filly given the verdict.

Running in the colours of the aptly-named Give Every Man His Due syndicate, Sheffield-born jockey Joe Colliver certainly earned his riding fee and the three-pound conditional did not look out of place as he outbattled the experienced Coleman.

He clearly clicks with Caraline – this was their fourth successive win following victories at Newcastle, Sedgefield and Kelso. Equally proficient over hurdles and fences, Colliver said his mount only just stayed the two-and-a-half-mile trip. “She’s still improving. I hope there’s more to come,” he said.

Perhaps the most impressive winner came in the concluding mares’ Bumper when Woolstone One galloped to a 12-length win for trainer Harry Whittington and jockey Gavin Sheehan, another go-to combination.

She relished testing conditions at Newbury last time out and Sheehan took up the running in the back straight and never looked back.

The four-year-old, sired by Frankie Dettori’s 3007 Epsom Derby winner Authorized, can only get better.