Bailey breaks British duck to guide Gloucestershire success at Cheltenham

Amid all the gloom over the dearth of British-trained winners at this year's Festival, it was left to one of the training ranks' seniors to break the voodoo on the opening day of the 4 day fixture. Kim Bailey, who last tasted Festival success in 2015, showed the freshmen how it's done when landing the Ultima Handicap Chase with Chianti Classico, ridden by David Bass. 

The choice for stable rider Bass from among two horses in the race trained by Bailey at Foxcote, Andoversford's nearest training neighbour, Bailey can be fogiven for having mixed feelings about the race, as his other runner, Trelawne, took a tumble under champion rider elect Harry Cobden, after fluffing the second of the 20 fences. All was well however, as Bass kept Chianti Classico handy throughout, leading from 3 out and seeing off a challenge from Twig, trained by close neighbour Ben Pauling.

Bailey reported to ITV Racing, "It’s huge. It’s huge for the yard, Matt my assistant and all the team at home have worked so hard on this. They believed in the horse. David has been confident all along and he was right." 

This was Bailey's fifth Festival winner after the memorable Champion Hurdle/Gold Cup double in 1995 of Alderbrook and Master Oats, and a winner in the corrsponding race in 1999 with Betty's Boy, before a long break to the Festival Plate with Darna in 2015.