Lock Stock seals career-best win in Albert Bartlett Lock Stock made all in producing the best performance of his career to land the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham. The Stuart Edmunds-trained six-year-old was quickly sent to front of the field by Charlie Hammond and despite not getting things all his own way jumped clear at the last before the long run up the hill with the final flight omitted. Ferocimo travelled well throughout the Grade Two affair, but found little when Sam Twiston-Davies asked the question and with Hitintheheadlines challenging on the outside, Lock Stock (4-1) found more to hold Dan Skelton’s runner by a length. Edmunds Eyes Aintree After Stamina Test Edmunds said: “I think the ground has played into his hands rather than some of the others potentially. “I think he knuckled down well and the jockey only had to give him a couple of slaps. It makes it more of a stamina test when they take the hurdles out and they don’t get chance to fill their lungs. He did jump left at the last one they did jump, but he can do that. “The owner came to us in the spring and Worcester (Fixed Brush Hurdle Series Final) was the plan. Luckily he got qualified for that and it worked. “He’s a bit fragile and we don’t over-train him. We had the ground on our side and we had solid handicap form also on our side. He ran well at Chepstow (in the Persian War) and the form of that race is working out well. “He’s a second-season novice and he pinged the first and gained a length and I guess it all helps. He was a bit more streetwise than some of the others. “If it rains he will go on holiday now as he wouldn’t want it hock deep. Maybe we bring him back in the spring for the three-mile novice at Liverpool. Most of them come here and burn their bridges and we’ll go to Aintree and pick up the bits and pieces.”
