Leader too Strong in Grade Two thriller at Wetherby

Champion jockey Sean Bowen was yet again shown to great effect when galvanising the “bone idle” Strong Leader to get up a stride before the line in the bet365 Hurdle at Wetherby.

Conceding weight to all of his rivals, Olly Murphy’s eight-year-old needs a flat track to be seen at his best and was winning for a second time at Grade Two level, adding to his top-tier success in the Liverpool Hurdle in 2024.

Victory looked unlikely for much of the race though, with Bowen pushing and shoving as his brother James set out to make all on Doddiethegreat before Harry Skelton pounced on Take No Chances.

She looked sure to win only for Strong Leader (15-8) to finish powerfully and collect by a neck.

“I don’t think I’ve done a good job of training him since he came back in from his break. We did a few things a bit differently, I’ve minded him a bit and haven’t been as hard on him as usual and you do need to be quite hard on him because he’s bone idle,” said Murphy.

“He’s got loads of ability. He’s only had a couple of away days and what would usually be his third bit of work was only his second – I wish he’d had a bit in between but we got away with it.

“He’s a remarkable horse but he wants flat tracks, and I know I keep saying it but he does.

“We talk about Sean every day but he was fantastic there. There were three great jockeys battling away there – that’s British jump racing right there and I’m pleased we came out on top, it was a proper horse race.

“Mine stays very well and I think a truer run race will suit him better, hopefully there’s more good races in him.

“He’s had a hard race there so we’ll see about Newbury but he will have a set of cheekpieces soon to help Sean.”

Cave Bridge looks a nice prospect for Harry Derham after remaining unbeaten in the bet365-sponsored two-mile novice hurdle.

Having won on his hurdling debut at Carlisle 16 days ago, he was conceding weight to all bar one rival but his task was made easier by the morning withdrawals of Kadastral and Wilstar, the latter being a half-brother to Douvan and Jonbon.

Harry Cobden was able to set sedate fractions in front and saved plenty to win by two and a half lengths.

Owner David Armstrong said: “He didn’t jump that well at Carlisle but it turned out he needed to lead and he did that today.

“He wants further and he’ll be a better horse over further. We’ll see what mark he gets on Tuesday. We have a couple of others with Harry as I own horses with Lee (Westwood) and (golfers) Graeme McDowell and Brooks Koepka were already involved in the yard.”

Pep Talking (13-2) provided Billy Aprahamian with a first Wetherby winner in the Position Payout Bet365 Handicap Chase.

Another to make all the running, he put in some great leaps under Gavin Sheehan to win by a length.

“He was supposed to run at Ludlow about 10 days ago but that got abandoned and I hadn’t even thought of coming here to be honest as he must have good ground,” said Aprahamian.

“I rang Jonjo Sanderson (clerk of the course) and he was saying ‘don’t worry, we’ll get some rain’ and I had to tell him I must have been in the minority that I didn’t want it.”