Jack Kennedy’s determination to be champion jockey in Ireland once again means he’s in Wexford rather than Liverpool on Friday but he left day one of the Aintree festival with a superb Grade One double under his belt.
In the absence of her old rival Lossiemouth, Brighterdaysahead landed the featured William Hill Aintree Hurdle on her probable final start over flights, while earlier another Gordon Elliott star, Mange Tout, secured top-flight honours in the Boodles Juvenile Hurdle.
In between Kennedy’s nearest championship rival, Darragh O’Keeffe, also scored at Grade One level aboard Henry de Bromhead’s Koktail Divin in the Manifesto Novice Chase. Kennedy leads O’Keeffe 97-90 with less than a month of the season to go.
Kennedy got the better of a memorable duel with Paul Townend to be crowned champion in 2024 and both his wins on Thursday were ample evidence of a jockey back riding at the top of his game.
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The 26-year-old’s mental resolution in repeatedly coming back from a demoralising run of five leg breaks is renowned. But it is matched by his acuity through a race, particularly it seems when expectation is at its highest.
For much of the long Aintree straight Brighterdaysahead’s big rival The New Lion and his jockey Harry Skelton looked to have the Irish star lined up in their sights.
Both horses filled the frame behind Lossiemouth in the Champion Hurdle, where Skelton’s notably wide route smacked of caution. This time his ambition looked excessive. Kennedy appeared to tantalisingly leave a tiny gap up his inner on the run to the last After it disappeared, and forced to switch, Skelton needed a big jump at the final flight but got the opposite.
The New Lion’s blunder meant Brighterdaysahead proved impossible to overhaul with the 13-8 favourite over two lengths too good at the line.
“That’s the beauty of when you’ve got Jack Kennedy riding for you – a good Kerryman,” said Elliott after his 11th Grade One success of the season. “When you’ve got good jockeys riding for you, you don’t tell them what to do; a good jockey knows what to do and a bad jockey can’t do it.”
Kennedy was afterwards cautioned by the stewards for careless riding. They judged he was insufficiently clear of The New Lion when drifting left, causing Skelton to be momentarily short of room.
The festival opener provided a treat of a tactical duel between Kennedy and Townend. The latter’s focus on getting Selma De Vary to settle mostly worked but her final challenge on Mange Tout still came up short. The filly, who missed out on Cheltenham, was three-parts-of-a-length too good.
“I thought he gave her a great ride. I thought the winning or the losing of the race was done from the third- or fourth-last to the turn in,” Elliott said. “It was hard not taking her to Cheltenham, because you want as many bullets as you can have, but now Cheltenham’s over I’m glad we kept her for here. Just the flatter track would suit her, and she’s just got a bit of boot.”
For various reasons, Nico de Boinville can be something of a Marmite jockey to some racing fans but there’s no disputing his capacity to bounce back from setbacks.
He emerged on top in the Racing Welfare Bowl on the Cheltenham Gold Cup runner-up Jango Baie having earlier been unseated from the heavy odds-on favourite Lulamba at the 10th fence in the Manifesto.
If plenty were quick to label it a soft ‘UR’ from Lulamba, Jango Baie’s jumping was hairy enough at times to prove the Englishman’s stickability. Impaire Et Passe’s fall at the penultimate fence virtually handed the race to Jango Baie, who still managed to defy all despite clambering over the last.
“It was tough for Nico, when you have what happened to Lulamba and then have to come straight into another Grade One,” Nicky Henderson said. “To pick yourself up, that’s testament to a Grade One jockey.”
