Has Knight Found Her New Mate?

Henrietta Knight claims to have unearthed another Gold Cup horse and a possible successor to Best Mate in the shape of Calgary Bay after he got off the mark over timber at Cheltenham.

Knight saddled the legendary Best Mate to a hat-trick of wins in the blue riband and hopes her four-year-old could develop into a future contender after he gamely landed the EBF/Boylesports.com 'National Hunt' Novices' Hurdle in the hands of Tony McCoy.

The 9-1 shot coped with the challenge of 6-5 favourite Snap Tie and I'msingingtheblues to open his account, and was introduced into the Supreme Novices' betting by Blue Square at 20-1.

Knight said: 'He is our next champion I hope and he is a lovely horse.

'He has already schooled over fences at home, and will now probably follow the same path as Best Mate.

'He'll have one more run and go for the Supreme Novices', although he will have an entry in the SunAlliance (Brit Insurance) too.'

Over The Creek staked his claim for the Coral Welsh National when he lowered the colours of familiar names as the 6-1 favourite in the Boylesports.com Cashback Chase.

The sponsors cut the David Johnson-owned and David Pipe-trained eight-year-old into 10-1 from 14s for the Chepstow marathon, while Ladbrokes go 16-1 from 25s about the runner-up, Simon, for the John Smith's Grand National.

Pipe said: 'The Welsh National is definitely a possible, but David has a few entered and we will make a decision closer to the time.'

The Colin Tizzard-trained Joe Lively entered the equation for the Royal & SunAlliance Chase with a second course victory in the Cheltenham Business Club Novices' Chase.

The eight-year-old stretched away for a 24-length success and was given a 20-1 quote by William Hill and VC Bet for a third triumph at the track in March.

Tizzard said: 'We will have to step him up in class now and he'll probably just have the one more run before Cheltenham.'

Arkle third Jack The Giant re-appeared over timber to exploit a favourable mark but the 100-30 chance was made to work hard for his three-quarter of a length call over Roman Villa in the CFR Group Handicap Hurdle.

Trainer Nicky Henderson's assistant Jamie Snowden said: 'He was so well-in that we had to run, and he could go again next weekend in the Ladbroke Hurdle if he pulls out OK.'

The sponsors of the Ascot race cut the five-year-old into 8-1 favouritism from 25s.

Enda Bolger's domination of the cross country fences was brought to an end following the retirement of Spot Thedifference as without his stalwart he had to settle for second in the BGC Cross Country Handicap Chase.

JT McNamara had controlled events on Bolger's 4-1 favourite Heads On the Ground but was out-sprinted from the last and went down by eight lengths to the Tony Martin-trained Wonderkid.

Martin said of the 5-1 winner: 'He'll probably have a break now and a prep run somewhere in February or early March before we come back for the Festival.'

(C) PA Sport