Trophy delight for King & Heskin with Tritonic Tritonic returned to the scene of his first success over jumps last season to land the valuable Betfair Exchange Trophy Handicap Hurdle at Ascot. The four-year-old, trained by Alan King, confirmed the promise of his early days over the smaller obstacles that included victory in the Grade Two Adonis Juvenile Hurdle at Kempton in February with a sterling display in a highly-competitive event. Global Citizen and No Ordinary Joe set a strong gallop from the start and there were plenty in with chances as the field turned for home with two flights left. Adrian Heskin produced Tritonic (8-1) to strike the front and hold the challenge of Onemorefortheroad by two and three-quarter lengths. Garry Clermont was half a length away in third place. King said: “The Greatwood Hurdle probably manned him up a bit — he has never been as quick in his life over hurdles. Clearly he has come forward for it. “I did hope he would run well, but it is just not a race four-year-olds win. He was just so much sharper over his hurdles than he was at Cheltenham and I read this morning that he might not be a Cheltenham horse and they might be right because twice he has really disappointed. Maybe he is a better horse around here. “I would imagine he will go to the Schweppes — or the Betfair Hurdle as I think it is called.” Heskin said: “Kempton was the blow away (moment) last year and then he went to Cheltenham and let us down a little bit. Each time we have gone to Cheltenham we thought he hasn’t handled it, but we were really looking forward to getting him back on this track. “They went a strong gallop early and I was flat to the boards until the second-last when he came back on the bridle. He is a very smart horse — to do that as a four-year-old was very impressive. “We had a plan and we changed our plan as we came into the parade ring and I’m glad we did as I was able to ride him with a bit more free rein and ride him as cool as ice. I knew they would go very hard and you can’t keep the gallop going. “I didn’t expect him to pick up like that though!”
