A PACKED festive crowd enjoyed a feast of racing – and a local winner – at the traditional Boxing Day meeting at Market Rasen.
The feature race of the afternoon, the Clugston Lincolnshire Handicap Chase, saw an impressive win by Soudain, trained by Steve Gollings at Scamblesby.
Soudain showed the field a clean pair of heels, but needed to find something extra in the straight to hold off Overyou (4-1).
With the ground proving a tough test, the gruelling three-mile five-furlong chase tested the stamina of the seven-strong field – only four managed to finish.
Under apprentice Paul Bohan, who claims 7lbs, the eventual winner was in the lead at the 16th fence, but was joined two out by his rival.
Bohan then got to work on his mount, though, and Soudain stayed on gamely to claim the main prize of the afternoon.
Soudain was an Irish point-to-point winner and has also won on heavy ground in a staying hurdle, but he was well beaten on his last runs over hurdles and on his chasing debut.
This outing, though, was a switch to handicaps, and he was well backed in the market.
Michael Chapman brought Epee Celeste (14-1) across the Willingham Road from his Woodlands stables and he jumped soundly enough to finish third.
The opening selling hurdle saw a win for The Society Man (11-2), another with form on heavy ground. The horse defied a penalty imposed for a win at Leicester last time out.
The Beginners Chase, which came next, saw Charlie Huxley steer Marie Des Anges (9-2) – which was receiving weight all round – to a successful chase debut.
Saints and Sinners (7-2), trained by Michael Easterby, was well beaten on his handicap debut at Aintree earlier this month.
The horse was returning after a break there and was the better for that run – he scored impressively here in the third race, a class four handicap hurdle.
Shortest price winner on the day was 2-1 shot Killimore Cottage, which took the novices handicap hurdle at the bottom of the card.
