Flame turns up the heat

Flamelco (aka Flame) won in impressive style under James Bowen in the 2 mile handicap chase at Catterick on 17 December. He is one of our new recruits this season for Yen Hall Farm Racing. Flame built on his encouraging 2nd place run at Hereford on 27 November where he had made his life difficult by jumping left. We decided to run him left handed this time and that certainly helped him. We expected a good run from him but the way he moved up from mid-division after the 5th from home was exciting. He turned into the home straight in third with three to jump and soared over each of his obstacles with flair and speed, with a superb jump at the last to join the leader. He then pulled away to win by 9 lengths. The result was particularly pleasing as, although only his third start for the yard, it was Flame’s first win over fences in ten starts and his first win since arriving in Britain in the summer of 2022. He clearly enjoyed the race very much and we hope to see him taste success again before long.

The excellent photographs (except the one of Niall leading Flame into the winner’s enclosure) are courtesy of hannahaliphotography.co.uk.