Everest The Brave climbs to the top Everest The Brave upset the odds when taking the Down Royal Corporation Of Horsebreeders Maiden Hunters Chase in the hands of Declan Lavery at Downpatrick. West Of Idaho was sent off the 4/6 favourite here against six rivals with the Gavin Cromwell-trained Everest The Brave proving weak in the market and drifting out to 17/2 (from 9/2). The six-year-old son of Shantaram led before the last and kept on well on the run-in to beat the odds-on shot by eight lengths with Vodka Splash a further length and three-quarters away in third. Lavery said, “I was talking to Gavin before it and he said he might be a bit raw still. He didn't have that much experience, jumped a bit big, but he was very good. The horses had better experience, he didn't. "He's probably not too bad, I'd say he is better than what they thought. He actually won well. "I actually felt like they went steady, didn't go quick. I knew jumping the third last he was going to win, just trying to get him to jump the last two. He got up to the line very strong. "A very straightforward horse and he will win plenty of races.” He added, “I've been busy all week at the sales, Doncaster and the breeze ups. He (Dan Skelton) was flat out buying. I was in Doncaster for a couple of days and he didn't miss too many, fair play to him. "I was at the breeze ups today and it went good. We had four there and the four of them sold, so a good day. Patrick (Turley) and I do breezers. I owned the Blackbeard today and she made a few pound, 75k not too bad. I would rather have owned the other one that made 200k, but happy enough with my one. “It was a good sale today, but it has been hard enough now the last couple of sales. We do point-to-pointers and breeze ups, so I love all that side of it.” Quotes by Michael Graham
