Huntingdon hero Sixmilebridge remains in Festival tally geegeez.co.uk

Sixmilebridge kept his hopes of appearing at the Cheltenham Festival alive by remaining strongly in the lead to justify odds of 2-5 in the annual Badges On Sale Now Novices’ Hurdle at Huntingdon.

Their recent goalscorer, Land Afar, gave the market leader a decent workout, but a deft leap on the final flight helped Kielan Woods and Sixmilebridge move four lengths ahead.

Now trained by Fergal O’Brien after running in the Champion Bumper for Ben Pauling last season, the six-year-old was unchanged at 66-1 with Paddy Power for the Turners Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham.

Sixmilebridge records successive victories for @FOBRacing @Huntingdon_Race pic.twitter.com/uhyF74zsYY

– Racing TV (@RacingTV) January 2, 2025

O’Brien told Racing TV: “He came in and he did the job, so it’s 2-1-1 for us now. He’s a lovely horse, he’s a very exciting horse for the future and I’m delighted to have him.

“I think we’ll go to Cheltenham for trial day next time, I think there’s a second year there for him, and I think he’s deserved it.

“We entered him at Challow, that’s what we think of him, but we took a swerve to come here and get a bit more experience and then hopefully at Cheltenham.

“That’s where he needs to go next and that will tell us what route we need to take after that. He’s also qualified for the EBF at Sandown, or if he does really well at Cheltenham maybe we’ll go back at Cheltenham in March.

“There will definitely be three miles left in time and once he gets through the barriers I think he will have done three miles. He’s a lovely horse – a little quirky and just needs a little knowledge, but he’s very good.

Pauling, meanwhile, has big plans for Vanderpoel after making his first successful start for the stable in the Advertise Your Business At Huntingdon Racecourse Maiden Hurdle.

Ben Jones sent the 3-1 opportunity ahead approaching the penultimate and gained a decisive advantage before holding off a late charge from favorite George’s Lad by a length.

The six-year-old was bought for £90,000 in late November after winning an Irish point-to-point by 10 lengths and it appears money well spent.

Pauling said: “I had a lot of hope. We had done some work with him and what he had done, he had done magnificently.

“Throwing him in a hurdle at this stage of the season probably means I think he’s good enough to run in better races in the spring and he needed to come here and do it today.

“Ben said it was pretty corny, he was holding it together, but he seemed to be doing OK.” He said it wouldn’t matter if it was two or three miles and he was very happy with his jump, so hopefully we made the right decision and can move forward now .

“From what I’ve seen so far at home, he’s brimming with class and I’m hoping he could be something for Aintree maybe.

“He might be one of those guys who wins a few races now and you’ll see him in a better race in the spring. He wouldn’t be ready for Cheltenham but coming here I was hoping he would do what he did.

Other recent articles by this author: