Pauling doing Handstands as youngster remains unbeaten

Ben Pauling is confident Handstands will go on to bigger and better things after maintaining his unbeaten record with a comprehensive victory at Newcastle.

Bought for £135,000 after winning an Irish point-to-point in the autumn, the five-year-old made an immediate impact on his debut under rules when scoring impressively at Hereford last month.

Newcastle’s QuinnBet Best Odds Guaranteed Novices’ Hurdle appeared a gilt-edged opportunity for the son of Getaway to follow up under a penalty and he was priced up accordingly as the 2-7 favourite.

Those who took the cramped odds will have had few concerns, with Handstands always travelling strongly in the hands of Ben Jones and a mistake at the final flight did little to stop as his momentum as he galloped on for a seven-length success over Taras Halls.

“That was everything we wanted to see really. I think he’s just a big, brave youngster that just needs some practice,” said Pauling.

“Although he won it very nicely, it was good to see him jump another round of hurdles, running on different ground, going left-handed instead of right-handed and he came up with all the goods.

“He’s got a sensible head on him, he popped the last and when Ben gave him a flick off he went. He’s got plenty of ability and he’s a lovely horse for the future.”

While Pauling is looking forward to raising his sights in the spring, a trip to the Cheltenham Festival may have to wait for another year.

Considering plans, the Gloucestershire handler added: “We’ll see how he comes out of this and whether we look at an EBF Final or a Sidney Banks, I’m not sure.

“I’ll speak to Tim (Radford, owner) and see where we want to go and what we want to do, but he’s looking well above average at this moment in time.

“I don’t know if he’s a Cheltenham horse this year, if I’m honest. If you saw him in a proper race it might be at Aintree, but who knows?

“We’ll probably leave all options open and won’t rule anything out, but to me he’s a chaser and a big, gorgeous, raw individual that probably wants to be looked after.”

Curley Finger bounced back to form for local trainer Rebecca Menzies in the QuinnBet Best Odds Guaranteed Handicap Hurdle.

The seven-year-old had failed to add to his tally since landing a valuable prize at Musselburgh last spring and was pulled up on his chasing debut and first start of this season at Carlisle.

A return to the smaller obstacles did not yield much improvement at Musselburgh on his next start either, but he showed his true colours in the north east, scoring by a length and a quarter under a positive ride from Nathan Moscrop as a well backed 7-2 shot.

“This ground wouldn’t be Curley Finger’s favourite, he won the Northern Lights (at Musselburgh) on a decent surface, so we were a little bit worried,” Menzies told Sky Sports Racing afterwards.

“We’ve had him entered everywhere trying to find some better ground and kind of got sick of waiting, so we just decided to run him while he’s in such good form.

“We tried chasing with him first time this season, he jumps very well at home but I think he needs a sound surface for that. He could well go chasing later on into the spring.”

Blazing Soldier (16-1) denied 6-5 favourite Two Auld Pals in the QuinnBet Acca Bonus Novices’ Hurdle.

The winner was making his first start under rules having hinted at promise in point-to-points.

“He’s a nice horse, we’ve had him six or eight weeks now and he’s shown us plenty and jumped well,” said trainer Mark Walford.

“His point-to-point form is sort of patchy, but if you look back when he finished third it was a very good race.

“He has a nice pedigree and has shown us enough at home to suggest he might run well, I didn’t think he’d win. We’ve just been treating him like a nice, young jumps horse and bringing him along steadily.”