Sam Thomas is in no rush to ship Al Dancer again into battle after his imperious success within the Badger Beer at Wincanton.
The evergreen 11-year-old produced an exceptional spherical of leaping and galloping within the arms of conditional jockey Callum Pritchard to each flip the historically aggressive early-season staying chase right into a procession and proceed his handler’s effective begin to the present marketing campaign.
It was the second notable success Thomas has saddled for proprietor Dai Walters in current weeks following the victory of progressive hurdler Lump Sum within the Welsh Champion Hurdle on the homeowners’ house monitor of Ffos Las final month.
Al Dancer at 25/1 👏
What a experience from Callum Pritchard to take the 63rd Badger Beer Handicap Chase 🏆#ITVRacing | @wincantonraces pic.twitter.com/XLDDtyyZJI
— ITV Racing (@itvracing) November 9, 2024
Nonetheless, it was a particular second for the person who as soon as steered Denman to Cheltenham Gold Cup glory as Al Dancer added one other feather to the coach’s cap at Wincanton.
“We’re completely thrilled and it was an incredible efficiency and we’re simply unbelievably fortunate to have such an unbelievable horse actually, we’re very fortunate to have these prime horses,” mentioned Thomas.
“We haven’t received an enormous workforce however they’re the races all of us wish to win and it’s nice for the boss Mr Walters and simply retains the entire thing ticking alongside.
“We clearly wish to win with each horse we are able to, however the huge ones take the strain off a bit. We’ve received a beautiful workforce of horses to run and we’re simply hoping for a little bit of assist with the climate.”
Al Dancer after his Wincanton win (Steven Paston/PA)
Al Dancer was registering the tenth victory of his lengthy profession, however his coach is ready to field intelligent and bide his time earlier than searching for an eleventh – and regardless of his advancing years, the gallant gray has now reached a career-high ranking.
Making an attempt to go one higher than final season in Kempton’s Coral Trophy early within the new 12 months is one possibility out there as Thomas eyes additional riches within the staying chase division, however for now connections will merely savour their Wincanton success.
“As anticipated, he’s just a little bit drained however he’s such a warrior and he’s come again to himself fairly shortly now,” continued Thomas.
“The handicapper might have been harsher however he’s nonetheless as much as a profession excessive mark on 159 now, so we’d have to only play it by ear and attempt to be a bit intelligent with the place we go along with him actually.
Al Dancer has been a star through the years for Sam Thomas (Steven Paston/PA)
“The Coral Trophy was a near-miss at Kempton final 12 months and he ran a blinder there, so that may be an apparent one and it’s the appropriate manner spherical for him. However we are going to take one step at a time and I wouldn’t be banking on too many runs this season, it’s only a case of discovering the very best alternative we are able to.
“He’s a veteran and doesn’t qualify for these races as a result of he’s rated too excessive, however he may very well be one for any of these good long-distance staying handicaps and it’s good to see that he stays the three miles effectively, as that was a query mark earlier than.”
He went on: “We’ll be dictated by him and it was superb the way it labored out with the Badger Beer, as I used to be scratching my head the place to run him and we simply needed to roll the cube – if we didn’t run him, there wasn’t actually something for him till December.
“It’s superb and having achieved that, it type of takes the strain off and we’re not in such a rush to seek out that subsequent goal actually.”
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