Iberico Lord raced to first in the £100,000 Coral Lanzarote Hurdle at Kempton Park. Jockey James Bowen was on-board the Nicky Henderson-trained horse with Nico de Boinville sidelined
Sir AP McCoy gave his verdict on the shock Lanzarote Hurdle win of Iberico Lord in the famous JP McManus silks at Kempton Park.
The retired 20-time champion jockey was on duty for National Hunt racing’s leading owner and watched as the 22-1 chance put some uninspiring form figures behind him. With James Bowen deputising for sidelined colleague Nico de Boinville in the saddle, Iberico Lord took advantage of a lower handicap mark in the Coral-sponsored feature to beat Double Powerful by four-and-a-half-lengths.
A Pai De Nom, the 16-5 favourite for a Dan Skelton race hat-trick, was a similar distance away in third as the Paul Nicholls-trained Fasol just missed out on a minor medal.
McCoy, 51, who recently committed to run next year’s London Marathon in honour of his close friend Graham Lee, said: “It is nice that Iberico Lord won and a bit of a surprise. Whether this trip has helped him, I’m not sure, but he’s a horse who has won some nice races like the Greatwood and Betfair a few years ago.
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“He also ran in a Champion Hurdle and is a good little horse, you wouldn’t mind a few more like him.
“I’m not sure on a plan, but I imagine we’ll just keep going in races like this and see how we get on.”
Henderson’s number one jockey De Boinville has not competed since New Year’s Day, when he took a heavy fall from Excello at Cheltenham.
Bowen stepped in to don the famous green and gold silks belonging to McManus, whose record-breaking successes at the Cheltenham Festival date back to 1982, with all-time greats like Istabraq and Baracouda on the roll of honour.
Iberico Lord was only 11-1 for the 2024 Champion Hurdle won by State Man after the number one hope for Seven Barrows, short-priced favourite Constitution Hill, was ruled out of defending his crown.
“I love riding in these colours when I can and it’s great to ride a winner in them,” Bowen said.
“I spoke to the boss and we agreed on the plan and we said we would see what happened and he’s done it well.
“He’s dropped down to a nice weight as well which probably told.”
