Lossiemouth completes hat-trick at Sandown In recent weeks Tom Lacey appears to have found plenty of improvement in Lossiemouth, who took apart four rivals in the Ballymore Winter Novices’ Hurdle, scoring by 14 lengths in the two-and-a-half mile Grade 2 contest at a murky Sandown Park. Sent off at 7/1, Stan Sheppard’s mount had won handicaps at Ascot and Ffos Las since his return to action and completed the hat-trick in scintillating fashion, with Viva Lavilla picking up the minor honours in second. Lossiemouth received a 25-1 quote for the Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle from both Coral and Paddy Power, and a 20-1 quote for the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle from the latter firm after giving Sheppard the biggest win of his career and his 16th of the season. “Lossiemouth races a bit behind the bridle, and that is why he has the blinkers on. I thought halfway down the back, ‘I’m not sure how much I have got here’. Gavin Sheehan went to the front (on Brave Kingdom) and I wanted to stay close to him, and every time I gave him a boot or a squeeze, he picked up the bridle again. “He is a big horse but I would say he wouldn’t jump a fence, because he doesn’t have the right brain for that.” On the subject of future targets, Lacey could consider Grade One options for his six-year-old. He said: “You could think about the Tolworth back here or the Challow at Newbury. Although the Tolworth would be back at two (miles) that is often a grind in soft ground if the rain comes. We will just get him home and think about it.”
