Belle has a ball in Huntingdon victory

PA Sport Reporters
February 16, 2022 12:08 pm

Champion Bumper third prevails in incident-packed Sidney Banks.

Elle Est Belle finished with a flourish to beat the boys in a dramatic renewal of the Urban Logistics Reit Sidney Banks Memorial Novices’ Hurdle at Huntingdon.

French Holly (1998), Time For Rupert (2009) and the brilliant Shishkin (2020) are among the previous winners of the Listed contest, and a strong field went to post for this year’s renewal.

The narrow favourite was Richard Spencer’s Wonderwall (7-4) following an impressive victory at Doncaster last month, with the Dan Skelton-trained Elle Est Belle next best at 15-8.

Elle Est Belle strikes late to land the Urban Logistics Reit Sidney Banks Memorial Novices’ Hurdle for Harry and @DSkeltonRacing pic.twitter.com/qSKn4rTXxD
— Huntingdon Racecourse (@Huntingdon_Race) February 10, 2022

Third behind Sir Gerhard and Kilcruit in the Champion Bumper at Cheltenham last season, Elle Est Belle had since won at Listed level over hurdles before finishing four behind star novice Jonbon at Ascot.

Course and distance winner Gentleman At Arms dictated for much of the way and looked the most likely winner at the final flight, where Wonderwall crashed out and brought down the unbeaten Harbour Lake.

But champion jockey Harry Skelton conjured a late rattle out of Elle Est Belle, who got up to beat the long-time leader by a neck.