Jamie Snowden will aim Cinquenta at Sandown’s EBF Final after the gelding gained a first victory over hurdles with a decisive success in the 2m4½f EBF ‘National Hunt’ Novices’ Hurdle (Qualifier) at Market Rasen.
Ridden with intent by Gavin Sheehan, Cinquenta travelled with far more purpose than he had in two previous hurdle starts, jumped with greater fluency and then lengthened when Sheehan asked him to go and win his race after the last. It was his first win over hurdles at the third attempt, but it looked less like a horse scraping home and more like one finally operating in the right conditions.
Snowden did not dress it up when speaking to the Racing Post. “It was a nice performance. He stepped forward for the step up in trip and a bit of softer ground,” he said, framing the win as a product of both placement and maturation rather than any sudden transformation. “The penny is beginning to drop, but he’s a big, backward baby and he’s learning all of the time. Today was a slightly easier race than the ones he’d been competing in.”
Cinquenta can follow in Laurens Bay’s footsteps
That assessment matters for Sandown, at which Snowden knows the pathway to the EBF Final; he won the same prize last year with Laurens Bay, and he sees a familiar outline in Cinquenta.
“We won the EBF Final last year with Laurens Bay and I’d say he’s in a similar mould, he’s a future staying chaser,” Snowden said. “Laurens Bay has progressed over fences and is going to go to the National Hunt Chase and you’d like to think Cinquenta might be that sort of horse next year.”
Cinquenta’s bumper form behind smart operators Sober Glory and No Drama This End already hinted at raw ability. Market Rasen supplied the practical evidence: stamina for 2m4½f, a softer-ground action, and the first signs of a novice beginning to understand his job.