Kadastral impresses for the Skeltons

Kadastral showed his rivals a clean pair of heels to run out a taking winner of the Goffs Hundred Grand Bumper at Newbury.

Trained by Dan Skelton, the five-year-old caught the eye when runner-up on debut at Kempton last month and was sent off the 9-2 second favourite in the hands of the trainer’s brother, Harry.

Always in the box seat in the valuable contest that has been won by some useful operators down the years, Kadastral was travelling best of all with the winning post in sight and only had to be shaken up to pull clear of his pursuers inside the final furlong.

He finished three-and-a-quarter lengths clear of Stuart Crawford’s Irish raider Talk The Talk, with Skelton predicting a bright future for his winner.

“He’s a nice horse and has obviously got a bit of pace and the longer straight has suited him today,” said the winning trainer.

“The ground was good for him as well today and a performance like that, it’s what you love to see from him. He’s quite a nice horse going forward and there’s everything to like about him.

“Because he’s been qualified for this race we’ve had it in mind all season, but that will be it now and he will be over the hurdles in the autumn and hopefully make a very smart horse.”

Earlier on the card, Alan Johns produced a determined display aboard Kalium, as Tim Vaughan’s five-year-old regained the winning thread in the Get Best Odds Guaranteed At BetVictor Novices’ Handicap Hurdle.

Having sat tight when his mount made an error at the second last flight of hurdles, Johns conjured up maximum effort in the closing stages as the 8-1 chance narrowly denied Harry Derham’s 15-8 favourite Norn Iron.

There was an upturn in fortunes for Nicky Henderson’s Bhaloo who has been pulled up in three outings since winning at Ascot in November, but bounced back in the hands of Nico de Boinville to land the BetVictor Home Of The Saturday Superboost Handicap Chase at 8-1.

Samuel Drinkwater’s Ballybreeze (17-2) claimed the Business Colleagues & Friends Handicap Chase, with the concluding BetVictor A Run For Your Money Handicap Chase going the way of King’s Threshold (85-40).