Nelsons Rock Brings up our Century!
Fri 26 Nov 2021
WINNER 100 OF 2021: NELSONS ROCK, trained by Colin Tizzard and ridden by Harry Kimber (-7): 'The Summerfield Developments Novices' Handicap Hurdle' over 3m at Taunton.
In the paddock beforehand, we gave Harry some added pressure and told him that if he wins, it would be our 100th winner of the year and that we would light up social media! Colin Tizzard laughed and said that he had better win now, or he will be on social media for the wrong reasons!
Up in trip today and on better ground (described as 'good) he was chalked up as favourite. As they jumped off, he took a keen hold, but Harry managed to hold on to him, to track the leaders. He was always travelling and jumping well and as they came to 2 from home, he was pushed along, making good headway to take the lead. Approaching the last, he gave another good leap and kept on well in the run-in, despite having a look at the road crossing, but was always doing enough to win by 3/4 of a length.
Watch the full race replay here: https://www.racingtv.com/videos/watch/horse_racing_replays/365903-summerfield-developments-novices-handicap-hurdle-4
There were plenty of cheers as he returned to the winners enclosure:
Harry said in his Racing TV interview: "I am very pleased with that. He has won P2P's over 3 miles so he has now backed that up. It was a lovely race for him, we didn't go too mad. He was having a good look around after the last, and hopefully there's a bright future for him.”
See the official photo gallery here: https://www.ppauk.com/event/Taunton-Races-Taunton-UK-25-Nov-2021/
Syndicate manager Tom says: "Congratulations to his owners and I thought that Harry gave him a lovely ride – having him in all the right places and Nelsons Rock responded when Harry asked him. I was never too worried until he began to have a little look around when he hit the front but as soon as others came to him, he knuckled down once again and stayed through the line nice and strongly. I’ll see what the handicapper does to his mark on Tuesday morning and then begin to formulate a plan from there. Great that Colin was there to share the champagne celebrations with our owners - thank you to the Tizzard team."
We are all thrilled to bring up the 100 for the calendar year. Read the story here: https://www.attheraces.com/news/2021/November/25/middleham-park-aiming-to-set-new-benchmark-following-100th-winner