A Lethal Turn of Foot!
Sun 31 Jan 2021
OUR 6th WINNER OF 2021: LETHAL LUNCH, trained by Michael Bell and ridden by Adam Kirby: 'The Bombardier British-Hopped Amber Beer Handicap', over 1m at Lingfield.
Nervous times, as Lethal Lunch was trying 1 mile for the first time in his career at the age of 6, but he had the jockey on board who has ridden him to win 3 of his 5 races to date, so an established friendship is always a good start!
He broke smartly (well he knows his craft by now!) and Adam steadied him in 5th. Heading to the final bend, Adam started to sit lower in the saddle as the pace lifted, but coming into the straight, at the 1 pole, he was a bit short of room and had to wait a little longer to press the button. As a gap opened, he quickened well inside the final furlong under the Kirby drive to run on well and getting his head in front on the line by a neck.
It was a masterclass of a ride from Adam, picking up a very nice first prize of £7,246. Timeform have recorded a rating of p101 for that, which is super and nice to have a winner of terrestrial TV on a Saturday afternoon! Thank you to Mr Kirby and to Michael Bell for trying him over the mile.
Watch the full race replay here: https://www.attheraces.com/racecard/Lingfield/30-January-2021/1530
Syndicate manager Tim says: "Congratulations to his owners. I love it when an experiment works! It couldn't have worked any more to plan - that was exactly what we asked Adam for. He knows every inch of that course and waited even longer than the most patient of watchers would have expected and delivered Lethal Lunch nicely on the line. The handicapper will put him up I expect to 95 ish and that's a serious mark, so we can look forward to a fun season on the turf in big Saturday races with him. We have only had him since November so I am delighted for his new owners. I think the remaining shares on the website should not take long to sell!"
It's been a good start to the year for our team, with 6 winners and also yesterday, we saw Marie's Rock earn some more valuable black-type in the Grade 2 Mares' hurdle at Doncaster. Going over the £50k of prize money mark - ahead of 2020 - is a great start to the year and 35% of our runners this month have placed 1st or 2nd. With our entries in this week for the Lincoln, at the opening meeting of the turf season at Doncaster, along with some early closing entries at The Cheltenham Festival, it's getting exciting!