Racing Digest: Sober Enters Supreme Picture and Tragedy Strikes in Silviniaco Conti Chase

Kempton Jump Race
Image: Magic Foundry, flickr

Storm Goretti bared her teeth last week, seeing several fixtures frozen out. Saturday’s Classic Chase card at Warwick was among those which failed to overcome the winter chill, but we still had graded class action from Punchestown and Kempton.

Both the Sky Bet Moscow Flyer Novice Hurdle and the Silviniaco Conti Chase were small field affairs, but the experience of watching each race contrasted starkly. While the Irish contest saw a new star announce himself on the hurdling scene, the English event witnessed the tragic loss of one of Paul Nicholls’ most promising performers. Elsewhere, Dan Skelton bade farewell to one of his most enigmatic and beloved stars, and the Frankie Dettori farewell tour struck gold in Uruguay.

Sober Stroll at Punchestown

The Moscow Flyer Novice Chase has a habit of producing a star performer. Subsequent Cheltenham Festival winners, Kicking King (Gold Cup), Vautour (Supreme Novices’ Hurdle, JLT Novices’ Chase, Ryanair Chase), Douvan (Supreme Novices’ Hurdle, Arkle), and Impaire Et Passe (Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle), are among the standout names on the roll of honour.

The 2026 edition attracted a small but select field of three, with the Gordon Elliott-trained Road Exile sent off as the odds-on favourite to master the Willie Mullins duo of Sober and Free Spirit. Road Exile led for much of the way but had no answers to Sober in the straight. Cruising onto the shoulder of the market leader, the mount of Paul Townend overcame a small mistake at the last to saunter to victory by five and a half lengths.

Like the Mullins-trained Vautour and Douvan before him, Sober’s most likely Cheltenham Festival target is the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle. Available to back at 33/1 before Sunday’s race, he is now as short as 14/1 for the festival opener. After that, a defence of his Queen Alexandra Stakes crown at Royal Ascot, followed by a tilt at the Melbourne Cup, may be on the agenda.

Edwardstone Success Overshadowed by Death of Kalif Du Berlais

Ordinarily, the result of Kempton’s Silviniaco Conti Chase would have provided a heartwarming racing headline. Almost two years after his previous success, the Alan King-trained 12-year-old, Edwardstone, showed much of his old enthusiasm to master Boombawn and Master Chewy on the run to the line. A fine performance from the three-time Grade 1 winner, who claimed the Arkle back in 2022; however, this Grade 2 contest had a desperately sad footnote.

Kalif Du Berlais had some way to go to match the feats of his illustrious Ditcheat predecessors, including Silviniaco Conti, but had hinted at star quality in his short career to date. Mentioned as a potential Queen Mother Champion Chase contender following his win in the Grade 1 Maghull Novices’ Chase, the Paul Nicholls runner started as the odds-on favourite to claim this prize.

Bowling along at the head of affairs, Kalif Du Berlais looked the part for much of the race, until disaster struck at the ninth. Looking to take off too early, the six-year-old unseated Harry Cobden and suffered a fractured shoulder. Despite the best efforts of the on-course vets, he could not be saved. A cruel outcome for this emerging talent and a heartbreaking blow for connections.

Sad News from Skelton Yard as Langer Dan Passes Away

Friday, 9 January, brought the news that the much-loved Langer Dan had died at the age of 10. A dual Cheltenham Festival winner, the Colm Donlon-owned gelding passed away due to a heart condition, which forced his retirement in March 2025.

Hailing from the yard of Dan Skelton, Langer Dan didn’t much care for the winner’s enclosure in the cold winter months. However, he emerged as a completely different horse at the springtime festivals.

A veteran of five Cheltenham Festivals, he will be best remembered as the first horse to win the fiendishly competitive Coral Cup on more than one occasion. Arriving on the back of a 35-length defeat in the Relkeel Hurdle, he toughed it out to score by a head in 2023. It was then a similar story in 2024, with a 31-length loss at Kempton preceding a smooth success by three and a half lengths on the big day. Other highlights included a second to subsequent Gold Cup winner Galopin Des Champs in the 2021 Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle, and a short-neck third behind Impaire Et Passe and Bob Olinger in the 2024 Aintree Hurdle.

Dettori Strikes in Uruguay

Far from the subzero temperatures of the winter jumping scene, the sport’s most famous flat jockey is strutting his stuff in sunnier climes. Maronas racecourse in Uruguay set the stage for the second leg of the Frankie Dettori farewell tour, which takes the 55-year-old Italian on a three-stop jaunt across South America.

As if it was ever in any doubt, Dettori hasn’t let his South American adventure pass by without a winner or two. Having delighted the Buenos Aires crowds with a flying dismount following his win aboard Grand Candyman in December, Dettori repeated the trick in Montevideo on 7th January. Taking the ride aboard the 13/8 favourite Soy Poronguero, Dettori and his mount dictated the pace before quickening away from the field for an emphatic success.

With Argentina and Uruguay added to the list of nations in which he has ridden a winner, Dettori will attempt to add Brazil to his collection in February. The Rio de Janeiro track of Gavea will provide a fittingly spectacular setting for the final rides of a truly remarkable career.