Owen to hunt better ground for Ambiente Friendly

James Owen will go in search of more favourable ground for Ambiente Friendly after last year’s Derby second did not disgrace himself on his hurdling debut at Cheltenham.

The four-year-old Gredley family-owned gelding had disappointed on the Flat for Owen since being moved into his care from the stable of James Fanshawe but following wind surgery, the decision was taken to switch him to timber.

He looked to be enjoying himself as he bowled along at the front in the mallardjewellers.com Maiden Hurdle before he was headed approaching the final obstacle and eventually came home in fourth of 14 runners on what Owen considered unfavourable ground.

The trainer said: “He ran nicely, he ran well. Obviously the ground would have been a good bit testing for him but on the whole we were very pleased with him. He came out of the race well and we’ll try to find another race soon for him.

“He was happy, he enjoyed it and he finished off his race well in the end. I think on good ground he will find it a lot easier to get home but what we liked about it is he enjoyed it and he kept going and he didn’t stop.

“Two miles is his trip and it would just be nice to get a win on the board with him, so we’ll try to find somewhere a little bit easier for him next time and then we can make a plan from there.”

Trad Jazz was another of Owen’s string switched from the Flat to hurdles.

The daughter of Sea The Moon was sent off a 1-4 favourite in a juvenile maiden hurdle at Leicester and was beaten for speed on the run-in by Manganese.

But that does not tell the whole story as the loose Rosso Levanto, who unseated Kevin Brogan at the second, nearly carried Manganese out on the first circuit and continued to hamper the field.

Sam Twiston-Davies sent Trad Jazz clear at the front to keep out of the way of Rosso Levanto but Owen was happy with her first assignment over timber.

He said: “It was a messy race but you’ve got to take the positives out of it. She jumped well and I don’t think we were mugged on the line. I think the winner did very well to win.

“I still think it was the first day at school for our filly and she’s still got huge potential and I think she’ll be OK.

“It wasn’t ideal, that wasn’t her true showing, she’ll have learned a good bit from it and it’ll be fine.”