The six-year-old gelding warmed to the task and pulled nicely clear of Fantastikas and Emitom for a simple Grade Two victory; he has now been trimmed into 10/1 for the National Hunt Chase at Cheltenham for Paul Nicholls
Saturday 11 December 2021 13:49, UK
Threeunderthrufive took his chasing record to three wins from four attempts as he landed the Grade Two December Novices’ Chase at Doncaster for Paul Nicholls and Adrian Heskin.
The six-year-old gelding warmed to the jumping task with a slick final round of fencing, picking up the frontrunning Fantastikas to win by seven lengths, with Grade Two winner Emitom back in third.
His jumping early was a little under par but soon improved and had the class to cruise into the lead and pull clear between the final two lengths for the McNeill family.
He was trimmed into 10/1 for the National Hunt Chase at Cheltenham, a race that Champion Trainer Nicholls is yet to win.
Jockey Heskin felt that the horse had more improvement to unlock after the race, saying: "This is probably the least well he jumped but they are tough fences at Doncaster.
"You are always a little bit on the turn and he gets idle very easily so I think he just drifts and puts in the odd average jump.
"He's well able to jump but he's never going to be impressive and he seems to keep on winning.
"I don't think we seen him at his best today - there's more to come.
"If he was coming up the straight 20 lengths clear on the bridle you'd know what you had but we've never really got to the bottom of this horse."
