The Warrior Wins at Wetherby
Tue 28 Dec 2021
Our record year continues, with WINNER 109 of 2021: KAYFAST WARRIOR, trained by Donald McCain and ridden by Brian Hughes: 'The William Hill Plus Bet Club Juvenile Hurdle' over 2m at Wetherby.
Having his 2nd start over hurdles, after placing 3rd last time out at Catterick, he was up against the horse who was 2nd in that race and that horse was chalked up as favourite.
Brian had him on the inside at the off, just tracking the leaders. Jumping well, and still going easily at the 3rd last, Brian asked him to go on and head for home. As he pulled away, he began to idle in front, but was always doing enough to win by 1 and 3/4 lengths.
Here he is returning the winner, to much applause from his owners!
Watch the full race replay here: https://www.racingtv.com/videos/watch/horse_racing_replays/370168-william-hill-plus-bet-club-juvenile-hurdle-qualifier-4
Timeform rated it as a 110 performance, saying: "Knew more than on debut and showed improved form to get off the mark in first-time cheekpieces, this not taking a great deal of winning with the favourite disappointing, comprehensively reversing Catterick form with that one."
See the full official photo gallery here: https://www.onlinepictureproof.com/officialphotographersonline/albums/Wetherby/807098_376725/browse/
Syndicate manager Tom says: "Well done to his lucky owners for the 6th time this year - I’m beginning to run out of superlatives to describe Kayfast Warrior! Donald and Brian were both delighted with the improvement that he’s shown from day 1 to day 2 over hurdles. He’s come out of the race well this morning and Donald and I will have a think about where we see him next but there will be more fun to be had in this sphere as well we would think!"