OUR SCHOLAR - FIRST JUMPS WINNER
RACING POST - Jack Jones saddled his first winner over jumps when Our Scholar landed the 2m3f maiden hurdle under Harry Cobden.
Our Scholar was sent off the even-money favourite but had to battle hard to hold off 40-1 shot Moytier by half a length.
Jones, who began his training career last year, said: “That’s my first jumps winner. I had five point-to-point winners as a jockey.
“He should have won a messy race at Worcester last time but was just unlucky. He’s done well to win there after losing five lengths at the start.
“I had two sleepless months without a buyer for him after purchasing him on spec, but then thankfully Mary-Ann and Christopher Middleton were in the yard and asked about him. They had shares in a filly we had on the Flat and have always been great supporters of mine.”
Jones runs a dual-purpose yard from his Newmarket base and has been operating at a red-hot 50 per cent strike-rate in the last fortnight.
He added: “We have 12 horses in training and we’ve had three winners from our last six runners.
“We had a really nice two-year-old winner at Doncaster [Up The Manor], who will be heading for Royal Ascot. Having horses like that and runners at those meetings is important for the yard.”
