Ascot Gold Cup winner Rite Of Passage received a belated (and totally irrelevant!) form boost at unlikely Tipperary today when Pat Martin’s Lucky At Last landed division 2 of the Under 18s Are Free Beginners Chase.
Ridden by the Irish Andrew Thornton, Lucky At Last tracked the leaders, led from three out before stretching clear of his rivals for an easy 11 lengths win.
Afterwards Martin tongue-in-cheekily explained “Lucky At Last’s form received a boost at Royal Ascot earlier when Rite Of Passage, who beat Lucky At Last in a maiden at Ballinrobe last year, won today’s Gold Cup!”
He added “Lucky At Last had two schooling sessions over fences recently and they went great – he’ll mix it between jumping and the Flat now; he loves Bellewstown and Galway so both venues are possibilities.”