Torn And Frayed secures Aintree Veterans’ victory

Torn And Frayed rolled back the years to land the William Hill Vieux Lion Rouge Veterans’ Handicap Chase at Aintree.

Trained by Nigel and Willy Twiston-Davies, the 11-year-old had finished fifth when favourite in the race 12 months ago, but this time around the 4-1 chance was delivered expertly by Sam Twiston-Davies to take the lead on the run to the last and came home almost three lengths clear of runner-up Ashtown Lad.

Willy Twiston-Davies said: “He deserved that and I thought he was unlucky not to win the last day at Chepstow but for making a mistake.

“Caroline (Beresford-Wylie) has been a very loyal owner so it’s very nice to get a nice winner on a big day.

“We’ll stick to veterans’ races and I think he’s a lot better left-handed really, so we will have to see. He’s been consistently a good horse and will win his fair share of prize-money all year.

“It’s nice to pick one up and he deserved it today, he’s been a very sound, consistent horse.”

The Twiston-Davies team had to settle for second in the William Hill Best Odds Guaranteed Maiden Hurdle as Kim Bailey and Mat Nicholls’ Marsiac (9-2) showed plenty of toughness to make all.

Although jumping right on occasions, the mount of Tom Bellamy had plenty in reserve to repel the challenge of Big Ticket up the run-in, scoring by a length to leave his training team awaiting the assessment of the handicapper before deciding their next move.

Nicholls said: “He’s a very nice horse and we’ve quite a few nice novice hurdlers this year and we weren’t quite sure where he fitted in with them all.

“He ran very well first time at Uttoxeter and we knew he had taken a step forward. There was a good bit of prize-money on offer today so we decided to have a crack at it and pulled it off as it were.

“We didn’t really want to make the running as it was only his second start over hurdles. He went quite markedly right the whole way round but when he got some company up the straight he looked very tough and looks like he could get further and Tom was really impressed with him.

“We’ll see what the handicapper does and what mark he gets and then decide if we want to go the handicapping route or maybe have a look at something decent.

“He might just need to go somewhere a bit smaller with a penalty for now but until we know what the handicapper thinks and how he comes out of the race, we won’t make too many grand plans just yet.”

There was to be no fourth-straight victory for Fergal O’Brien in the William Hill Each Way Extra Handicap Hurdle, as Dan Skelton’s 7-4 favourite Ace Of Spades took the spoils.

However, the Gloucestershire handler was in the winner’s enclosure after the Racing TV Mares’ Open National Hunt Flat Race when debutant Edith Pelham (3-1) edged out Tom Ellis’ Ladies Day in the hands of Jonathan Burke.

Elsewhere on the card, Ernest Gray (11-1) struck for Alan King in the Butterworth Spengler Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle, while Anthony Honeyball’s Jordans Cross (3-1) made a winning switch to fences in the Stream Champions:Full Gallop On ITVX Novices’ Limited Handicap Chase.