Famous Bridge digs deep for Tommy Whittle win

Famous Bridge continued his ascent up the staying ladder with a determined victory in an attritional renewal of the Betfred Tommy Whittle Handicap Chase at Haydock.

Although a dual winner over hurdles, the Nicky Richards-trained seven-year-old always looked the type to do better over the larger obstacles and he won three of his first six chase starts.

Fresh from a course-and-distance success four weeks ago, Famous Bridge – sporting the famous silks of the late Trevor Hemmings – was the 5-2 favourite to add to his tally and stuck to his guns admirably in the testing conditions to emerge victorious.

Burrows Diamond had built up a clear lead by the time he rounded the bend into the the home straight and soon had the majority of his chasing rivals in trouble, with only Famous Bridge and Credo able to stay in the fight from the third-last fence.

Burrows Diamond did not bend in front, but Famous Bridge slowly ate into his advantage and he was a length to the good at the line.

Richards said: “He crept away and did it grand. Sean (Quinlan, jockey) thought he was going to win from the second-last. I don’t know if we would want to run him on that ground too many times as it is fairly gruelling.

“He is a youngish horse for a chasing horse and I think he is on the up, but you don’t want to keep putting the gun to their head on that ground.

“He is a young horse, and he has not had a lot of mileage. He is improving and I want to keep seeing improvement as the handicapper is going to make sure we need to improve.

“We know he is going to come (through near the end) as he likes to get in a battle and he is the type of horse that is hard to beat when he gets in one.”

Famous Bridge was given a quote of 25-1 for the Grand National by William Hill, but the Greystoke handler has other targets on his mind away from Aintree.

He added: “He won’t go up enough in the weights for the National this time. We’ve got thoughts. I don’t think we want to go extreme distances on gruelling ground yet.

“He has won two nice races now and something like the Grimthorpe we could go for. Mick (Meagher, racing manager to Hemmings Racing) would love to come back here for the Peter Marsh, but I don’t know if he wants to be on that ground all the time.”

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