Minella Missile rockets to ‘fairytale’ Cheltenham success

Minella Missile dented some lofty reputations in the Trustatrader Novices’ Hurdle for Evan Williams at Cheltenham.

The point-to-point winner had caused a 20-1 shock when scoring on his hurdling debut from a Paul Nicholls-trained favourite at Chepstow and he repeated the feat here – but this time at Grade Two level at an even bigger price.

Sent off a 22-1 chance the five-year-old looked up against with Nicholls’ Captain Teague and several Irish-trained runners appearing to hold stronger claims. However, Adam Wedge moved within his comfort zone for much of the race, despite sitting well off the pace.

Harry Cobden had Captain Teague close to Kinbara up front, but did put in a couple of noticeably novicey leaps.

He was still in the box seat turning for home, but The Big Doyen had tracked him while Wedge charted the inside route on Minella Missile.

All three had a chance on jumping the last, and it was the Williams runner who found most to win by a length and a half from the 4-6 favourite with The Big Doyen a further half-length away.

“He’s just one of them you know, he quickens and is very laid back,” said Williams

“You can drop him in and I love a horse you can drop in and then quickens. There’s not many of them that get there in two strides and he can do that.

“It’s the trainer why he is the price he is, nothing to do with the horse. It’s the trainer, not the horse.

“Talk is talk and it’s November. The men in March don’t talk they just turn up don’t they. We’re under no illusions and he has won his good race. He’s a brother to a horse who I think is a good horse in Monbeg Genius and his future will be over fences somewhere down the line.

“I just think in these novice hurdles, a step up in trip wouldn’t be a problem and he quickens.”

Minella Missile provided a poignant 100th winner for owner Janet Davies, who has endured a difficult time following the death of her husband, Peter, and the winning trainer was thrilled to give his loyal owner with a day to remember.

“That’s racing, it pulls in the emotions of life which are important to the very trivial pursuit of going faster than another horse round a grassy field,” continued Williams.

“It is her 100th winner and she has been very successful, had a lot of winners and some very nice horses. But, as often happens with racing, it sometimes just gives back that little bit of a fairytale.

“I’m blessed with the owners I train for. I’m a dinosaur and I train for some very old-fashioned owners and it makes my life very easy. But sometimes that cross-over between real life and racing is fantastic. Isn’t it crazy how the cards fall sometimes.”

On future plans, he went on: “He handles this place which is an undulating track and sometimes you can get dragged into doing things for the sake of doing things.

“Lets be brutal about it, the second horse carried a penalty and we have only won a length and a half. So we have a bit to find to go and win a Grade One.

“He’s the type of horse who might be able to step up to that, but as far as I’m concerned, in his life as a novice hurdler he has won a good race and what happens now as a novice hurdler is almost irrelevant.

“Today is Janet’s day and that’s what makes it special to me. It’s a special day for Janet.”

Davies said: “How amazing was that. We won last (here) with Court Minstrel and I never thought we would have another like that.

“Evan said when he won at Chepstow, ‘you have a nice horse’. But I didn’t think he would be that nice.

“I was trying to keep my cool, as this time last year I lost my husband suddenly in his sleep. It’s been a difficult year, but that was amazing.”