Maguire records a double

Adrian Maguire took the riding honours at Towcester yesterday with a 111 1/2 to 1 double on Musical Sling and Ground Nut.

Maguire made the best of Musical Sling's fine jumping to dictate matters in the Millennium Dawn Novices' Chase and the combination galloped all the way to the line as one by one his rivals either exited or became desperately tired.

Owner Terry Warner confessed to landing a nice touch after the Philip Hobbs-trained seven-year-old beat Dom Beltrano by 21 lengths.

Maguire was in even better form on top weight Ground Nut, who was returning from a 651-day absence in the Welcome To the New Century Handicap Chase.

Up the straight Ground Nut looked sure to be beaten by Sursum Corda but Maguire refused to give in and his mount wore down his rival in the final strides to score by a neck.

The Meathman earned the praises of Ground Nut's trainer Bob Buckler, who said: "That was a real gutsy effort and Adrian was brilliant on him.

"The horse has had leg problems and after a long lay-off like that you always wonder if they'll come back but he loves this soft ground and the stiff track here really suits him."

There was another dour battling performance when Galen outstayed Royal Tommy by three lengths in the other handicap chase.

Jim Crowley's mount was clear at the last after making a bad blunder two out, but he was desperately tired on the run-in, allowing the placed horses to narrow the gap.

Galen's trainer Sue Smith is mindful that her charge had a hard race yesterday and she said: "He certainly wouldn't want to be carrying any more weight than this in testing ground and it's obvious that he's had a hard race."

There could have been no more fitting start to the day than the victory of Billy Buckskin from stablemate Come On Eilish in the Welcome To The Millennium Conditional Jockeys' Selling Handicap Hurdle.

The horses are trained locally by John Upson, whose assistant Tom Byrne has a quarter share in the winner.