Copper snatches victory from the jaws of defeat Trained by Alex Ott and ridden by his son Luke Burke-Ott, Inchidaly Copper snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in the Join Racing TV Now With A Free Month Trial Handicap Chase. Successful when last seen at Killarney in October, the 12/1 chance (from 20s) led narrowly from two out, but was headed after a far from fluent jump at the last. Soon three-lengths in arrears, the Owen O'Flynn-owned chestnut rallied gamely under pressure on the run-in, getting up in the dying strides to prevail by a neck. Now without a win in 25 starts, In The Trenches was the one just denied, with Keith Donoghue aboard this Gavin Cromwell-trained 8/1 chance. There was a further four-and-a-quarter lengths back to Charlies Pride (14/1) in third, while Big Island, who was returned the 10/3 favourite, faded from two out and eventually finished sixth. The subject of controversy when sixth at Clonmel last month, the easy-to-back Mount Ferns (15/2) made mistakes early on and soon found himself trailing in rear, pulling up after six out. "He's only in six weeks and we thought he'd need a run, so it shows how much we know! We had no real plan made and just entered him for this but it worked out. I'd say he trains himself," the winning handler revealed. "The distance was shorter than we'd normally like for him and Luke thought the ground rode a bit dead, but maybe that helped us and we're happy out. The main thing is to keep him fresh and interested." STEWARDS REPORT * C.P. McNamara, rider of Mount Ferns, trained by E. McNamara, reported to the Clerk of the Scales that his mount made a bad mistake at the second fence. Additional reporting by Thomas Weekes
