Dancing to Victory
Fri 12 May 2023
WINNER 37 OF 2023: PARK HILL DANCER, trained by Nicky Henderson OBE and ridden by Nico de Boinville: The 'Racing TV Maiden Hurdle' over 2m 41/2f at Huntingdon.
They set of at a steady pace and Nico held him up in rear, as he took a keen hold. He began to close them down from the 6th hurdle, moving into 3rd 3 out. Switched left to challenge, he was going best 2 out and after a good jump, he led narrowly at the last. Heading for the line it was head to head with the other joint favourite, but he kept on well for Nico in the run-in and just prevailed on the line, by a head.
Watch the full race replay here: https://www.racingtv.com/results/uk/442872-huntingdon/11-May-2023/1340
Nico told us after the race: "Everything transpired against him as they went so steady, but he was very straight forward. They sprinted for home there, but he still jumped very well and loved the ground."
Timeform rated it as a joint career best 105+ performance, saying: "After 10 weeks off, got off the mark without needing to improve on the pick of his efforts from last season; held up, smooth headway 3 out, challenged from 2 out, driven run-in, edged ahead on line."
See the official photo gallery, here: https://www.francescaaltoft.co.uk/huntingdon
Syndicate manager Tom says: "Firstly, a huge congratulations to his syndicate of owners on his fine victory yesterday. So now he is a Bumper winner and a Maiden Hurdle winner. He deserved that. It was a strange race with the slow pace but he was up to the fast finish and settled well in that early tempo. It was a great ride by Nico to land the blow when it was needed. Nicky has him looking really well, so we will look at getting him out again."