Twiston-Davies passes £1m prize-money mark

Published on Friday 7 March 2008 22:15

NIGEL Twiston-Davies sailed past the £1million mark in prize money for the season with a near 48-1 double at Leicester yesterday. Victories for Nikola (9-4) and Kirby's Vic (14-1) showed the Naunton trainer has his team in fine form ahead of the Cheltenham Festival.

Nikola ended his frustrating run of seven placed efforts when holding Down's Folly by a neck in the Kirkby Mallory Beginners' Chase. "It's nice for him to get his head in front and it means I've got over a 1million in prize money for the season," said the trainer.

However, Paddy Brennan was banned for two days for using his whip with excessive frequency. Twiston-Davies made it 72 winners for the season when Kirby's Vic won the Novices' Handicap Chase.

At Sandown, Captain Alex Michael teamed up with owner Ron Shaw to again enjoy an afternoon to remember by winning the Grand Military Gold Cup. Shaw's gold and white hooped colours were carried to victory in the race by Kings Mistral in 2001 and 2003, with Michael riding on the latter occasion. And the pair repeated the trick in the 2008 renewal with the Pat Chamings-trained Bolachoir.