News Waiting Patiently delivers poignant victory but Cheltenham plans up in the air

Waiting Patiently delivers poignant victory but Cheltenham plans up in the air

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Waiting Patiently is by no means certain to line up for the Ryanair Chase at Cheltenham despite maintaining his perfect record over fences in the Betfair Ascot Chase.

It was a poignant success for trainer Ruth Jefferson, who took over the licence on the death of her father Malcolm two weeks ago and whose funeral was only 24 hours earlier.

She retained her composure and humility following a pulsating renewal, in which Waiting Patiently (2-1 favourite) denied dual winner Cue Card by two and three-quarter lengths, giving jockey Brian Hughes a first Grade One triumph.

"We said we'd see after he ran today. This could be his Cheltenham, because we don't know what ground we are going to get," said the North Yorkshire handler, who recorded her first winner at Kelso on Thursday.

"Even if we get soft ground, we might just stop and think about it. We don't need to rush him and he's not a horse that needs a lot of racing every year.

"We'll go home and see how he is. We'll probably confirm him and probably decide 10 minutes before declaration time.

"There's no point risking him. There are other places he can go - Aintree and Punchestown for instance. He would stay three miles, I think."

She added: "Dad would have loved to have been here, to see this horse remain unbeaten.

"He would have loved it and he would have been thrilled. He had a lot of belief in the horse and rated him very highly. No one would have been shouting louder as he crossed the line."

Cue Card, victorious in 2013 and 2017, was applauded both entering and leaving the unsaddling enclosure.

His trainer Colin Tizzard said: "That was lovely. He gives everything and it's a serious horse that's beat him today.

"We've had eight seasons and he's not run in anything other than big races, apart from his first bumper. He's just a pleasure to train."

Hughes capped a red-letter day by completing an 89-1 treble on French import Le Patriote (4-1), who got off the mark for trainer Dr Richard Newland in the Ascot Spring Garden Show Handicap Hurdle, and on the Mick Channon-trained Buildmeupbuttercup (5-1) in the concluding bumper.