Mister Meggit impresses on Aintree hurdles bow

Mister Meggit made an impressive start to his jumping career in the BoyleSports Daily Money Back Meetings EBF ‘National Hunt’ Novices’ Hurdle at Aintree.

Jonjo O’Neill jr enjoyed an armchair ride on the six-year-old, who cruised into contention down the home straight before easing to a four-and-three-quarter-length victory over Off The Jury at evens.

The Hemmings family-owned son of Shantou won his first two bumpers in fine style last term before stumbling when favourite for a Grade Two event at this venue and delighted connections by getting back on track.

Stepping up in class for the Grade One Challow Novices’ Hurdle at Newbury is now on the agenda and the successful jockey told Racing TV: “He’s very straightforward, there’s no side to him.

“We went a good gallop early and the ground was lovely, but he’s acted on much softer before so I just wanted to school him round for the first mile and hopefully his class would bring him into the race.

“As soon as he passed a couple of horses up the straight, he was really locked on and he certainly knows where the winning line is.

“He’s a funny horse, because he shows you very, very little at home and it’s hard to get a gauge where he is fitness-wise – we thought he was ready enough to run, but we knew he would improve a heap for the run, so I didn’t want to give him a hard race.

“But the way he travelled in his bumpers, I thought if I got over the last, he should be able to seal the job off and that’s what he did.

“He was very comfortable and I think it was a strong enough race, so we’re very happy. I think the Challow is what we’ll be working back to.

“It’s great for the Hemmings family, they love this place and obviously Trevor had a massive affiliation with Aintree, so it’s nice to have a winner here.

“We’ve been very lucky through the years to have some great horses for the Hemmings family, such as Albertas Run. Iron Bridge has done well for us over the last couple of years and hopefully this fella can take them up there again.”

The Hemmings colours, famously carried to Grand National glory by Hedgehunter, Ballabriggs and Many Clouds, came to the fore again as Harbour Lake stayed on strongly to land the Pertemps Network Handicap Hurdle at 3-1 for Alan King and Tom Cannon.

King said: “It’s great for them and I’m delighted with this lad today. We tried him over fences last season after he schooled beautifully, but we got him to the track and he just didn’t take to it at all, so he went back over hurdles and ran a couple of solid races.

“We’ve had a clean run with him this autumn and he loves good ground. He’s qualified for the final now and we’ll work back from that, with just two or three runs before then.”