McCoy successful on Albertas Tony McCoy got off the mark at the 2008 Cheltenham Festival as the Jonjo O´Neill-trained Albertas Run, a second winner on the day for owner Trevor Hemmings, took the Royal & SunAlliance Chase in fine style. The well-backed 4/1 favourite put in a textbook round of jumping to cosily repel the challenge of staying-on Roll Along by four and a half lengths, with Battlecry finishing three and a half lengths further adrift in third. Joe Lively attempted to cut out all the running under Joe Tizzard, but a mistake at the 10th essentially ended his chance. The Sam Thomas-ridden Silverburn then picked up the gauntlet but was not fluent at the 16th, after which Battlecry edged into the lead. Nigel Twiston-Davies´ seven-year-old was still in front two out but was swamped thereafter by the cool McCoy. Despite O´Neill´s reservations about the ground, Albertas Run jumped the last prodigiously to score by four and a half lengths. Carl Llewellyn´s Roll Along (20-1) came from the clouds and had three and a half lengths in hand over the leg-weary Battlecry (25-1). "It´s nice to ride a winner," McCoy told Channel 4 Racing. "I won on him here a couple of months ago but he pulled up after the last that day so I didn´t learn that much about him. "I´m delighted for the trainer. Jonjo always produces the winners come Cheltenham." Of his injury comeback, McCoy added: "You always have to be positive. It´s part of the job to get the falls. You´re always in a mad rush to get back and thanks to all the doctors who helped me." O´Neill said: "He´s a great little horse. "I was a little bit nervous about the ground, but when I saw him jumping so well early on I thought the ground couldn´t be too bad. "AP (McCoy) is a fantastic man to get himself back fit and well. We had hoped to get him back on a winner before today, but it´s great to give him one today. "He gave him a great ride. He´s riding as well as ever, if not better." Hemmings added: "What a day - it´s fantastic! "AP was a quiet man today but he was so positive. "He (McCoy) has given me my first SunAlliance for a long while so it´s fantastic." Twiston-Davies said of Battlecry: "He ran a superb race and I could not be more pleased. "Better ground would have helped - he just got tired after the last." Llewellyn added of runner-up Roll Along: "I´m disappointed as I thought I could win it."
