‘He’s an absolute beast’ – 28-1 Editeur Du Gite shines as Edwardstone unseats

Editeur Du Gite jumps the last fence as the riderless Edwardstone leads the way in the Desert Orchid Chase

Edward Whitaker

Tuesday: Desert Orchid Chase, Kempton

Editeur Du Gite caused a huge shock with a brilliant front-running performance to win the Desert Orchid Chase after odds-on favourite Edwardstone dramatically unseated Tom Cannon in the early stages.

Sent out to force a ferocious gallop by Niall Houlihan, the Gary Moore-trained eight-year-old put in a marvellous display of jumping to win at 28-1, eased down from Nube Negra.

Edwardstone – a brilliant winner of the Tingle Creek Chase earlier this month – hit the open ditch and gave Cannon little chance of remaining in the saddle.

Houlihan said: “I spoke to Josh and the boss before about what I wanted to do and it worked a treat. That’s his forte, he’s an absolute beast of a jumper and is very athletic, and loves the game. The loose horse helped by keeping him honest.

“It’s brilliant. To ride horses like this is great and I’m very grateful for the opportunity I’m getting.”

Editeur Du Gite was introduced at 33-1 for the Queen Mother Champion Chase by Betfair Sportsbook and Paddy Power.

Nube Negra, the 2020 Desert Orchid Chase winner, failed to get involved and plugged on to take a 13-length second, while 40-1 Dolos finished third.

The win was Houlihan’s biggest success of his career and just his eighth of this season, having notched a career-best 22 victories last campaign.

It was also Editeur Du Gite’s most notable win, having also won the Red Rum Handicap Chase at Aintree’s Grand National meeting in 2021.

Alan King reported that Edwardstone was fine following his mishap, while Tom Cannon walked away unscathed.

“They’re both fine and there will be another day. Normally he’s very good but Tom said they just weren’t meeting it right,” King said.

“Normally between them they sort it out but today they didn’t. Hey, nobody has died and the horse is fine. He still winged around the course afterwards.”

Cannon added: “The horse is fine. It was just one of those things – if you go swimming you get wet sometimes!”

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FIRST PUBLISHED 2:44PM, DEC 27 2022