Erne River's talent looks wider than a mile
Erne River
Nick Kent only has a modest yard but his Erne River looks a decent chasing talent after wins at Doncaster and Wetherby. The seven-year-old has options but time is pressing.
Lincolnshire based trainer Nick Kent looks appears to have a useful novice after Erne River scored an easy second victory over fences at Wetherby.
The seven-year-old won on the first time of asking on debut at Doncaster in January, with a six-length victory.
That winning margin increased to 13 lengths at Wetherby under an assured ride from Charlie Hammond.
The soft going in and strong winds in West Yorkshire saw Erne River travel slightly less smoothly than normal but nothing to stop a decisive victory.
"I'm really pleased, I was concerned about the ground and he didn't look as happy as he can do," said Kent.
"I suppose that's the sign of a good horse, he's gone and done it on ground that wouldn't be ideal for him.
"Charlie (Hammond) said that every time he asked and squeezed him, he did find a bit, he kept finding.
"Charlie was delighted with him. When you're watching it you don't know what the jockey is feeling and I thought they didn't look to be going very fast and it all looked hard work, but Charlie was really pleased with him."
Kent is looking for a similar race in Winter before stepping up to a higher grade challenge in the spring.
The Grade 1 Manifesto Novices' Chase at Aintree and the Grade 2 Future Champion Novices' Chase at Ayr are both possibles but racing never stops still.
"We're just running out of time, really," said Kent.
"We'll see how he comes out of this, we may have to go to Aintree without another run.
"We'll see what there is, I haven't looked to see what there is before Aintree if we go there - there is a race at Ayr as well."
Erne River runs in the same blue silks as Kent's six-time winning hurdler Mick Maestro, with both horses owned by the Crossed Fingers Partnership that had shares in horses such as God's Own, Double Shuffle, Bun Doran and Big Fella Thanks.
"They own Mick Maestro with us, they're good owners and they've had some nice horses over the years," Kent said of the connections.
"It's been great, they've given us the support.
"We're a small yard and it's a bit of a gamble for them to send horses to a yard like ours and hopefully we're repaying them."
