Silviniaco Conti has won his first rosette in his new career after retiring from racing.
The National Hunt star enjoyed a spin round the novice class at the Belvoir Team Chase on 10 September with his new rider, Charlotte Alexander, and finished second with Team Rideaway.
“I’m gently introducing him to team chasing,” she said.
“He is very honest and very genuine. At the moment we are in the early stages and he couldn’t quite work out what it was about!”
She added Conti was “so good” in the collecting ring and behaved beautifully while standing on the trailer, being tacked up and having his studs put in.
Charlotte plans to run him at the Atherstone this weekend (17 September) and is aiming to try some eventing and hunting with him in time.
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“He will tell me what he wants to do, like Denman did,” she added.
(Image credit: creditUnknown)
The multiple Grade One-winning steeplechaser, formerly trained by Paul Nicholls, ran for the final time at Aintree in the Betway Bowl on 6 April and was retired from the track the same day.
Charlotte has also taken on Ulck Du Lin, who was also trained by Paul and retired from racing in April.
Both enjoyed time off in the field and were brought back into work over the summer.
Charlotte has been working with Brian Hutton on their retraining and they have taken the horses right “back to basics”.
She added that she has also been spending time cross-country training at Lyneham Heath, working on accuracy and building a partnership.
“It isn’t about speed at the moment — it is about training, confidence, having a nice time and everything being easy for them,” she said.
“They love being in a herd — hearing the tannoy they are on their toes and just love the buzz, the attention and being admired.
“They know they are special.”
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Lucy is an experienced news journalist, reporter and presenter. Since joining the Horse & Hound team in 2015, Lucy has reported from major global sporting events including the Tokyo Paralympic Games and multiple European Championships, as well as Badminton, Burghley and London, to name a few. She has covered current affairs and sports news across the full spectrum of equestrian disciplines and racing, as well as human and equine welfare, industry news and court cases.
