Caldwell Potter© Photo Healy Racing
Caldwell Potter took everything in his stride to win his chasing debut in good style at Carlisle.
The grey changed hands for a staggering €740,000 in February after a successful hurdling career in which he won at Grade One level for previous trainer Gordon Elliott.
He had not been seen since that Leopardstown win last Christmas, having missed an Aintree run and been patiently prepared for his first outing over fences for new handler Paul Nicholls.
That debut came in the Myles Turns 30 Novices’ Chase over two miles and under Harry Cobden he was the 2-11 favourite in a field of seven.
He made all of the running and jumped well on the whole, holding off his rivals with very little effort and eventually cantering to a five-length victory with the minimum of fuss.
The six-year-old is now 20-1 from 25-1 with Coral for the Arkle, and unchanged at 16-1 for the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase.
“That was a good start, it was just what we wanted,” said Nicholls.
“He jumped nicely, he won well, that’s the first rung of the ladder and I’m obviously really pleased with him.
“He’s got to learn, that was only his fourth run over jumps as he ran three times over hurdles.
“He’s relatively inexperienced so we’ve just got to build that experience now, get him some practice and quietly creep on.
“I haven’t made a plan. Everyone will want to know where he goes next but I haven’t made that decision, we’ve got some valuable experience there.
“That was just the job, just the start we wanted.”
