Pentland Hills overcame long absence to win on return© Photo Healy Racing
Nicky Henderson produced a tremendous training performance as Pentland Hills recorded a fairytale victory at Haydock, on a day his rider Sean Levey returned to the saddle with a double after his well-publicised absence.
Levey was first on the scoresheet aboard Tom Ward’s Double Cherry in the Haldane Fisher Handicap, before adding to his tally when steering the 2019 Triumph Hurdle winner to success in the Lee Thomas Christy Handicap.
The Seven Barrows inmate had not been seen in any code since being well beaten in the 2020 Champion Hurdle — and Henderson was delighted to see him back in the winner’s enclosure in his first outing for almost two and a half years.
“It was lovely to see him back — that’s the great thing,” said Henderson.
“The idea was to run him on the Flat early in the summer and you could not believe it has been the driest summer.
“We always said we wouldn’t run him on anything that didn’t have the words at least ‘good to soft’ in the description. We would not run him on the all-weather. I’m embarrassed. I must have made near on 100 entries for him and we decided to stop until the ground changed.
“We saw Haydock had some rain around and it was the right race for him. It has been a very, very long time. If it hadn’t have rained last night, he wouldn’t have run.”
Although this victory came on the Flat, the Seven Barrows handler suggests Pentland Hills — who runs in the colours of the Owners Group — could soon be tackling the larger obstacles, especially if his stable jockey has his way.
He continued: “Onwards we go and believe it or not, the plan really would be to go straight novice chasing, would you believe? The reason why he was such a good hurdler is because he is a brilliant jumper — that is why he is a better hurdler than he is a Flat horse.
“Nico (de Boinville) is itching to go chasing. But there is one thing I want to say, I want to say thank you to all the Owners Group for being so incredibly patient.
“It is nearly two years since he has been off with leg trouble, and there are a lot of owners all itching for him to appear. It’s been a long wait for them.
“We have schooled him over fences and not surprisingly he is fantastic — so we’ll go back to the day job!
“We want to be very conscious of the bounce factor, so he won’t run for a bit. We almost certainly will give him four weeks after a lay-off like that.”
Levey was stood down at Sandown last week following a random saliva swab that tested positive for a prohibited substance. The jockey immediately requested a urine sample which subsequently came back negative, but this was the earliest opportunity he was able to return from the sidelines.
