The green, yellow and white colours of Trevor Hemmings, who died last month, have been a constant thread in National Hunt racing for nearly four decades and the former owner’s “friends”, as he liked to call them, continue to honour his memory on the track.
Cloudy Glen, a 33-1 shot trained by Venetia Williams, became the latest big-race winner in the Hemmings silks in the Ladbrokes Trophy Chase here on Saturday, staying on strongly to hold the late challenge of Fiddlerontheroof by half a length. His performance embodied the courage and stamina Hemmings always hoped to see in one of his chasers.
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Whether Cloudy Glen would have prevailed had Remastered not crashed out at the fourth-last fence is an impossible question to answer. David Pipe’s chaser, who had sufficient stamina to line up for the National Hunt Chase at last season’s Cheltenham Festival, was apparently about to ease into the lead when he hit the top of the fence and sprawled horribly on landing. Pipe thankfully reported that Remastered was “none the worse” for his fall.
That left Cloudy Glen, who was foaled at Hemmings’s Gleadhill House Stud, in a clear lead, and though Fiddlerontheroof, the 9-2 second-favourite, made ground to threaten the winner approaching the last, Charlie Deutsch, Cloudy Glen’s jockey, was always getting just enough from his mount to keep the runner-up at bay. Brahma Bull (40‑1) and Ontheropes (8-1) filled the remainder of the frame.
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Kempton Park
12.15 Noble Order
12.50 Raajihah
1.25 Dubai Immo
1.55 Just A Tad
2.25 Uzincso (nb)
3.00 First Charge
3.35 I’m Mable
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Ayr
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1.40 Famous Bridge
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Wolverhampton
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4.30 Pretty Sweet
5.00 Night On Earth
5.30 Fitwood Star
6.00 Serenading
6.30 Wonder Elmossman
7.00 Beryl The Peril
7.30 Bomb Squad
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It was a second successive victory in the race for the Hemmings colours after Cloth Cap’s success 12 months ago. Last year’s winner led the way until the final turn but faded to finish sixth.
“It was written in the stars. Trevor was looking down,” Williams said. “To have his two horses making the running in the [former] Hennessy, turning for home.
“He understood horses, you had to be patient. In his business he was really on it, but with his horses he was so patient and knew what it took.
“This fellow [Cloudy Glen] has always been a weird one and he did a piece of work last week and I thought ‘Blimey. Where did that come from?’
“I decided then I was going to run him in this. He was always capable of pulling something out of the bag, but you never knew if he would do it here or at Fontwell.”
Conditions at Newcastle deteriorated throughout the afternoon as Storm Arwen continued to wreak havoc in the north-east. However, the seven-race card managed to survive the elements and saved the best for last as Epatante, the 2020 Champion Hurdle winner, and Not So Sleepy dead-heated in the Grade One Fighting Fifth Hurdle after a thrilling battle from the final flight.
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Not So Sleepy jinked violently and unseated his rider at the first hurdle in last year’s renewal but was much more amenable on Saturday and fought for every inch of ground on the run to the line.
Epatante, who was running for the first time since surgery for a back problem over the summer, will now head to the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton Park.
Nicky Henderson’s mare has been clipped to around 10-1 for the Champion Hurdle in March, while Not So Sleepy – Hughie Morrison’s first Grade One winner over jumps – can be backed at 50-1 for the same race.
