Musselburgh winner Silver Concorde ‘a bargain’ for Keith Dalgleish
Cheltenham Festival winner has been revitalised since his transfer to Scotland
Musselburgh winner Silver Concorde could be in line for a return to the Cheltenham Festival after claiming his second success since joining Keith Dalgleish.
The nine-year-old saw off Shaneshill to win the 2014 Champion Bumper for Dermot Weld but changed hands for 33,000 euro at Goffs in October after he failed to replicate that form over hurdles.
The move to Scotland appears to have given Silver Concorde a new lease of life as, having bolted up on his debut for new connections at Musselburgh last month, he comfortably followed up on his return to the track.
Silver Concorde was sent off the 1-10 favourite for the Jump To It And Join Racing UK Novices’ Hurdle and duly obliged by 12 lengths in the hands of Brian Hughes.
Dalgleish told Press Association Sport: “He was quite impressive again and he is definitely something to look forward to stepping up in class.
“I suppose he does look a bargain now. It just depends now what happens when we step him up in class.
“Only time will tell how good he is.”
Dalgleish added: “It’s nice having horses like him. Obviously we are not surprised what he is doing with his past form.
“I will speak to the owner and they are hoping to go to Cheltenham for the Ballymore. I think two and a half miles will be his trip over hurdles.
“We will see how he comes out of this but there is nothing set in stone.”
Sandy Thomson enjoyed a double on a card that survived three inspections before eventually being given the go-ahead a little over half an hour before the scheduled first race.
Ballycrystal Court was a 14-1 winner of the EBF ‘National Hunt’ Novices’ Hurdle under Danny Cook, having looked booked for minor honours before the front-running Sonic fell two flights from the finish.
Thomson said: “He really impressed us on his first run here (finished fourth behind Silver Concorde), but he didn’t really get the run of the race and blew up.
“What would have happened today we’ll never know, but our horse kept galloping all the way to the line and he’s a nice horse who’ll jump a fence in time.”
“He’s turning into a little star,” added the Borders handler.
“He’ll go back over fences at some stage, but there’s a three-mile 0-140 handicap hurdle back here in January 1 that we’ll probably go for next.”
There was a sad postscript to the race, with Jim Goldie’s veteran Jonny Delta suffering a fatal injury after falling at the third-last.
There were two Irish-trained winners on the afternoon, both of whom were ridden by Andrew Lynch.
Jim Dreaper’s Mullaghmurphy Blue hacked up as the 11-10 favourite for the Racing UK Jump To It Chase, while the Karl Thornton-trained Rancher Lass (9-1) battled to a narrow verdict in the Biggest Jumps Season On Racing UK Handicap Chase.
Fraser Canyon (9-2) made a worthwhile round trip in excess of 800 miles when landing the Biggest Ever Jumps Season On Racing UK Handicap Hurdle for Welsh trainer Tim Vaughan and jockey Alan Johns.
Nicky Richards and Ryan Day, who combined to win Saturday’s Caspian Caviar Gold Cup at Cheltenham with Guitar Pete, claimed the concluding handicap hurdle with 9-2 chance Wot A Shot.
