Flying Tiger wins Fred Winter Juvenile Hurdle at Cheltenham at 33/1
Thursday 1 February 2018 14:54, UK
Flying Tiger produced a 33/1 shock in the Fred Winter Juvenile Handicap Hurdle and gave Nick Williams a first Cheltenham Festival winner.
Richard Johnson claimed his first winner of the week aboard the outsider, who was well beaten in a Grade 2 race behind Triumph Hurdle fancy Master Blueyes on his most recent run.
The well-fancied Divin Bere moved smoothly towards the front end rounding the home turn before being joined by Nietzsche at the final flight.
However, it was Flying Tiger who finished best, getting up to beat Divin Bere and provide the champion jockey with a welcome winner.
He said: "It's fantastic. Lizzie Kelly was riding another horse (Diable De Sivola, fifth) but has done a lot of work to get him settled.
"He's always been talented in France but he got it right on the day. I'm slightly speechless."
Williams said of his pair: "I thought they both had good chances and it was very hard for Lizzie to make a choice. I left it totally up to her and her horse came with a chance at the last, but just flattened out.
"Flying Tiger is a more speedy type and it's great to get my first Festival winner. It's been a long time coming, we've had some near misses, but I had a feeling it could be with a juvenile as we can do quite well with them."
