RICHARD DUNWOODY added another racecourse to his lengthy winning list yesterday when he registered his first success at Carlisle. The champion jockey now only needs victories at Catterick, Kelso and Newcastle to complete the full set of the 43 British jumping courses after the triumph of General Wolfe in the Hayton Handicap Chase.
The Tim Forster-trained 5 to 6 favourite did not have things all his own way and needed to be strongly ridden to hold off Northants by seven lengths.
General Wolfe is owned by the betting syndicate Winning Line and the members are looking forward to plenty more from the seven-year-old.
His next race is likely to be the Eider Chase at Newcastle next month with the Midlands National also a possibility.
"Tim's horses have been held up at home and the horse will certainly come on for this," said Peter Hurst, representing the owners. "In the long-term we view him as a possible Grand National/Scottish National contender."
The Grey Monk is another chaser about whom plenty more will be heard over the next few years. He stretched his unbeaten record to three over fences with an impeccable display in the Hadrian's Wall Novices' Chase.
Jumping at great speed he did not put a foot wrong and pulled right away in the closing stages to defeat Miner Jackson by 30 lengths.
Admiring jockey Tony Dobbin said: "That was beautiful. I tried to get him to pop at the ditches but he jumped out of my hands. Apart from that he was brilliant."
The Grey Monk, set to reappear at Ayr on Saturday week, will be entered for the Sun Alliance Chase at Cheltenham. But _ trainer Gordon Richards said: "The horses that win that race don't seem to do any good and he's not certain to run. But he will definitely go to Aintree."
Santa Concerto is another horse with Cheltenham potential after an impressive performance on his debut over timber.
In front from the outset the strapping gelding never appeared in any danger as he coasted to a smooth victory in divison two of the Naworth Novices' Hurdle.
"We'll probably make an entry for the Sun Alliance Novices' Hurdle but we would have to have a couple of more races before we consider that," said trainer Len Lungo.
"This is a big, quality horse and as I've said before these hurdles races are just filling time before he goes chasing."
Lorcan Wyer pulled out all the stops to score on Golden Hello in the Brampton Handicap Hurdle. But the stewards took a dim view of his efforts, banning him for four days (January 25th, 26th, 27th and 29th) for using his whip with unreasonable frequency and twice hitting his mount down the shoulder.
Richards and Dobbin teed up a double with the comfortable victory of Jocks Cross in the opening division of the novices' hurdle
With five out of the first six favourites obliging the bumper Tote Jackpot pool of £418,960.36 did not result in a big payout. There was a total of £1,056.89 in winning bets, with a dividend of £281.40 to a £1 stake.
