Neville enjoys memorable day with Catterick treble

Hat-trick for trainer of Cheltenham hope The Real Whacker.

Four weeks out from saddling The Real Whacker in pursuit of Cheltenham Festival glory, trainer Patrick Neville enjoyed a memorable afternoon by landing a treble in the first three races at Catterick.

The Real Whacker is the star of a team of around 20 horses Neville trains out of Ann Duffield’s yard in North Yorkshire, having made the move from Ireland in 2021.

The seven-year-old has already won twice at Cheltenham this season, having followed up a successful chasing debut at Cheltenham in November with an impressive front-running display in the Dipper on New Year’s Day, and connections are still considering whether to run in the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase at the Festival or have an ambitious tilt at the Cheltenham Gold Cup.

Neville provided a positive update on his stable star’s well being after his Catterick hat-trick, saying: “The Real Whacker is in super form at the moment, I couldn’t be happier with him.

“We’re still in the Gold Cup and we’re still in the novice and we’ll just wait another few weeks and see where we are. It’ll depend on the weather and ground and things like that.

“There’ll be a few horses dropping out in the next few weeks, as we’ve seen with Allaho today missing the Ryanair.”

The Real Whacker was Neville’s only previous winner this season, but Fiston Du Mou put that right in Catterick’s curtain-raising Jumping For Joy On Racing TV Novices’ Handicap Chase.

Ridden by Gavin Sheehan, the 15-8 chance made every yard of the running and had enough in the tank at the finish to see off Creative Control by three-quarters of a length.

Neville saddled two of the three runners in the Meetings That Matter On Racing TV Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle and it was 9-1 shot Not Staying Long who emerged victorious under Brian Hughes, with her better-fancied stablemate Beauty To Behold last of the trio.

An excellent day’s work was completed in the racingtv.com Handicap Hurdle, with the Hughes-ridden Kavanaghs Cross leading home a one-two for Neville as Glentruan was a half-length runner-up.

“I had a double in Ireland, but I’ve never had a treble before, so we’ll take it. The horses are in good form and I’m delighted with the way they all ran,” the trainer added.

“The first race was a tricky enough race with only two runners and we had to make the running and do it the hard way, then in the mares’ race I was hoping there’d more runners to give Beauty To Behold some cover, but she ran very keen.

“The other mare did it well though and I’m happy enough with both of them. Hopefully we can keep them all in good form.”

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