Somersby races to Knight's rescue

Even their most ardent fans would have to admit that the trainers Henrietta Knight and Paul Webber are hardly prolific winner-producers these days. So backing the Oxfordshire-based pair to dominate proceedings at Kempton yesterday with three winners between them would have taken a leap of faith. Dominic Elsworth provided the touchstone, riding all three to victory for a near 386-1 treble.

"I thought you might have forgotten what I looked like," quipped Knight to the press in the winner's enclosure, after Somersby overcame greenness to land the opening novices' hurdle.

The trainer only this week broke a losing run stretching back to May and Somersby was beaten at the start of the month when the yard was still in the doldrums. "It's very difficult to pinpoint," Knight said. "The vets were looking at all the horses but could not find anything wrong. One thing we have done is go back to feeding them oats. It's the traditional way and it seems to suit us.

"I bought Somersby from Tom Costello, just like Best Mate and Racing Demon, and we've loved him ever since we saw him jumping loose. He's a raw-boned baby and he will be a chaser. He does everything so easily and is an exciting horse to have in the yard."

Webber provided Elsworth with victory in the day's main event, the Starlight Lapland Mares' Hurdle, through One Gulp. Hora, from the Nicky Henderson stable which is in contrastingly scintillating form, was a strongly fancied favourite for the Listed contest but she rarely looked happy in her jumping and One Gulp found plenty under pressure for a clear-cut win.

"She had a very good summer and has improved a lot," Webber said. "But she'll have to improve again to be top, top class, so I think we'll dream about the David Nicholson mares' race [at the Cheltenham Festival] and hopefully some nice ones in between. I suppose we would look at the staying races at Ascot, as handicaps look to be out of the question now." Coral offer 12-1 about One Gulp for Cheltenham.

Rather more imminently, Saturday's Hennessy Gold Cup will provide another opportunity for Snoopy Loopy to lop some more tall reputations after last weekend's dramatic Haydock victory when Kauto Star was floored at the last. Peter Bowen, has taken the audacious step of asking the 10-year-old for another heroic performance with very little recovery time.

The lure is Order Of Merit points, which Bowen has stated is the principal aim for his new stable star. Snoopy Loopy is currently 10 points clear of Chomba Womba in the race for the £200,000 prize in the BHA initiative.

"The £200,000 is a big incentive for any trainer who has the right horse," Bowen said. "I would think after the Hennessy we will supplement him for the King George if all goes well."

Denis O'Regan has picked up the Hennessy ride on Tom George's gambled-on Island Flyer as Paddy Brennan is required on Knowhere for Nigel Twiston-Davies. It could be a big day for O'Regan who rides Inglis Drever in his seasonal reappearance in the Long-Distance Hurdle.

Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup (Newbury, Saturday) Ladbrokes: 9-2 Big Buck's, 6-1 Air Force One, Character Building, 7-1 Island Flyer, Oedipe, 10-1 Albertas Run, 12-1 Dear Villez, Slim Pickings, 16-1 New Alco, High Chimes, Royal County Star, Snoopy Loopy, 20-1 Knowhere, Ornais, Verasi.