By Peter Moore at Lingfield Park Saturday 13th December 2025
Before Saturday, jockey J.J Slevin had never ridden at the Surrey track. By half past one, his two rides on the day had yielded a double on Christmas Jumper Day.
Precious Metal got the ball rolling in the 2m maiden hurdle, before quickly following up by steering the long odds on shot Masked Man to victory in the 2m 3 ½ f novices’ hurdle for a quick fire double.
Masked Man made light work of his 1-14 odds by pulling clear entering the straight to win by two and a half lengths.
The Nigel and Willy Twiston-Davies-trained four-year-old finished second in a Grade 2 at Haydock last month, but has now made it two wins from three starts.
Earlier, Slevin partnered Precious Metal to victory for Henrietta Knight. The four-year-old had finished second in his last two runs, but went one better today by getting his nose in front on the line by a neck.
Willy Twiston-Davies said: “He’s a very nice horse and this was a bit of a last-minute plan. I was speaking to Simon Munir and Isaac Souede’s [owners] racing manager Anthony Bromley and we said this looked a weak-enough contest.
“It’s got him qualified for the EBF Novice Handicap Hurdle Final. We didn’t want to go for the Formby Novices’ Hurdle, so it’ll tee him up nicely to go back into Graded company next year.”
Despite qualifying for the EBF Final at Sandown in March, it is not a certain target for Masked Man.
Twiston-Davies said: “It’s nice to have him qualified, but he has a few nice options. We’ve always held him in high regard and think he’ll be the real deal.”
Gary & Josh Moore took all of the prize-money on offer in the opening 2m beginners’ chase as they saddled all three runners in the contest.
Hansard justified odds of 1-5 when beating stablemates Taita Hills and Officer Of State, with the three scooping £12,000 for the yard in the process.
Getaway With You completed a hat-trick with a second course-and-distance win in the 2m3½f novice handicap hurdle for joint-trainers David Killahena and Graeme McPherson.
Aided without the use of cheekpieces for the past three runs, the seven-year-old made all the running to score by seven and a half lengths.
Young trainer Max Comley is in red hot form at the moment, and added to his total when A Great Excuse took the last on the card under claimer Jamie Brace by one and a quarter lengths in the 2m handicap chase.
Comley, a former point to point jockey and trainer, has now had three winners in his last seven runners.
It was A Perfect Day for trainer Ben Clarke, with the aptly named horse taking the 2m 7f stayers handicap hurdle under Toby McCain-Mitchell.
Tom Broughton and Getaway King have struck up the perfect understanding with the combination making it three wins in a row after completing victory in the 2m 4f conditional jockeys handicap chase.