Jasmin De Vaux (6/1), last season’s Weatherbys Bumper winner at the Cheltenham Festival, returned to the Cotswolds this afternoon to claim the Grade 1 Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle.
It continued the excellent form on Friday of both Willie Mullins and Paul Townend, as he claimed the race by two and a half lengths from the Irish-trained favourite The Big Westerner (9/2f).
The Henry de Bromhead-handled Darragh O’Keeffe-ridden runner-up was two and a half lengths adrift of the winner, with the Irish-bred Lucinda Russell-trained Derryhassen Paddy (10/1) and Derek Fox another four and a half lengths behind.
“This lad takes a bit of warming up, he’s not the most straightforward, but he’s a classy individual,” Paul Towend admitted post race.”He showed that here last year – that was a huge pick from Patrick and I said, ‘If he picked him last year, I couldn’t leave him behind this year.’
“I think a lot of it is just confidence with him and just getting into a rhythm – I thought there would be plenty go forward – and ride him for class.”
