Tears of both joy and sadness trickled down the face of part owner Ed Hoddell who insisted there is a ‘racing God’ after Mole Court secured a highly emotional success when completing a four-timer with a tenacious victory in the Close Brothers Amateur Jockeys’ Handicap Chase on day one of The Showcase today.

The Ben Pauling-trained six-year-old received the biggest cheer of the day on walk back into the famous winner’s enclosure when digging deepest of them all under Jack Andrews in the three miles and one furlong prize to add to his brace of wins at Worcester and last time out victory at Stratford-upon-Avon. 

Racing beyond an extended two miles and six furlongs for the first time, the 9-1 chance found plenty of stamina in reserve late on to deny Midnight Our Fred by half-a-length with stablemate Wick Green a further length back in third much to the delight of Hoddell, whose wife Tina is battling an illness.

Hoddell, who is based in Hartpury, said; “There is a racing God and he has smiled down on us today. That is all I can say. All our friends are over there. I’m so happy and so sad at the same time. 

“It is incredibly emotional, and I’d like to say a huge thanks to Ben and all the team up at Naunton Downs as they are an amazing team up there. It is just wonderful.  

“We did a little bit of work up there. Ben and Sophie through the whole process of building the yard have been incredible. 

“They are great people to work for and great people to have a horse with. They are just wonderful people. I didn’t have time to think about the race. 

“There are four of us involved in the horse my father-in-law Michael, Oliver and Lizzie (Troup) and myself. We called him Mole Court as he was the initials of the people. It is just wonderful.” 

Equally emotional was the Naunton handler who hopes the victory would give the Hoddell family ‘every bit of joy they deserve’.

Pauling said: “Ed basically single handedly with his whole team built my new yard and halfway through the build his wife Tina fell ill and very sadly she is not very well at all. We don’t know how long (she has left) but hopefully this will have given her everything. 

“She is the most incredible person. Tina, we do love you lots. It is quite hard to talk about but this horse means a lot to everyone. This means so much. We all love winners here, but I don’t think I’ve ever felt like this. 

“Tina and the Hoddells are the most amazing family and I hope this gives them every bit of joy they deserve.”

Joint-owner Richard Lloyd saw his longtime dream of celebrating a winner at Cheltenham finally become reality after Pinnacle Peak (28-1) landed concluding the Abu Dhabi Digital Markets Handicap Hurdle. 

Appearing the appreciate the drop back to two and a half miles the Martin Keighley-trained eight-year-old, who Lloyd owns half of with Mark Boothright, galloped on resolutely to score by four and three-quarter lengths from top-weight Angels Breath. 

Lloyd, who lives near Guiting Power, said: “It is my first Cheltenham winner and I’ve been dreaming of it for a long time and it happened today, although it was unexpected. I thought he would be good for a place and that he was massively overpriced. 

“It was shock when he crossed the line but now I’m going to celebrate. I love the sport and I love horses. This is massive. I had a few shillings on him at 50-1 this morning. That will pay for dinner tonight at No 131 in Cheltenham.”

As for the winning trainer he hopes that Pinnacle Peak can continue to progress to be as good as his dual cross country chase winner Back On The Lash. 

The Luckley handler said: “He was probably a bit too keen at Warwick last time over three miles one (furlong) and he got outstayed so we dropped him back in trip today. 

“Adam (Wedge, jockey) said he travelled superb and jumped so well. He has won quite easily in the end. He should have never been that price and I said to the owners that he is way better than his price. 

“He is a half-brother to Back On The Lash and hopefully he can build on this today.”