Paradias seals a return to Newcastle for All-Weather Championships day on Good Friday

February 22

Paradias clinched his place in the Easter Classic field on All-Weather Finals Day at Newcastle on April 3 with a decisive success over hot-favourite Respond at Lingfield on Saturday.

Rossa Ryan, who had flown back from Dubai overnight, having ridden two winners, including a G3 race, at Meydan on Friday, gave Paradias a peach of a ride.

Stalking the leading group throughout, Rossa shook up Paradias early in the straight, and the versatile seven-year-old produced a telling finishing kick to lead inside the final furlong and win by a length.

Ryan said:”Paradias is ultra-consistent and this was probably a career-best performance. He relaxed well early in the race and got into a good rhythm, and I was always confident that we would get the job done.”

This was Paradias’s first win on Lingfield’s all-weather track, though he did win over hurdles here in 2023, but though he has also scored on the artificial surfaces of both Kempton and Wolverhampton and has shown that he is equally effective on the all-weather as he is on turf. ‘

Granted, Paradias has yet to open his score at Newcastle, but he was beaten less than three lengths when an excellent fourth on Gosforth Park’s big day last year, and he has won from a mile to 12 furlongs so roll on Good Friday.

Alan watched Paradias win from Kempton, where he was delighted how well The Doyen Chief ran when beaten only a length by the gambled-on Lookaway after a titanic battle up the straight in the Ladbroke Trophy.

The Doyen Chief is entered in two races at next month’s Cheltenham Festival, but Alan feels that the meeting might come a bit quick, while he was also pleased with the seasonal debut of our Scottish Champion Hurdle winner Favour And Fortune, who only tired at  second last, eventually finishing sixth in the two mile and five handicap hurdle, his first race for 10 months