VIDEO: Sport in 2014 - the National Spirit Hurdle at Fontwell Park

Day two of our 14-day look back at ’14 takes us back to late February and to Fontwell Park’s totepool National Spirit Hurdle.
By The Newsroom
Published 21st Dec 2014, 09:00 BST
Kayf Moss on the way to winning the totepool National Spirit Hurdle under Rhys Flint Picture by Clive BennettKayf Moss on the way to winning the totepool National Spirit Hurdle under Rhys Flint Picture by Clive Bennett
Kayf Moss on the way to winning the totepool National Spirit Hurdle under Rhys Flint Picture by Clive Bennett

We’re reliving the top local sporting events and matches of the year in West Sussex and the £50,000 contest took place on a lovely sunny Sunday at the popular figure-of-eight track.

The race rarely disappoints – and it certainly lived up to its billing this year.

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The big money was on the £50,000 totepool National Spirit Hurdle going to the Paul Nicholls year for the second year in a row. But the bookies who rated Nicholls’ runner Saphir Du Rheu as the odds-on favourite had reckoned without the most courageous of displays by Kayf Moss, who led all the way around the two-mile, four-furlong course with Rhys Flint on board.

Kayf Moss on the way to winning the totepool National Spirit Hurdle under Rhys Flint Picture by Clive BennettKayf Moss on the way to winning the totepool National Spirit Hurdle under Rhys Flint Picture by Clive Bennett
Kayf Moss on the way to winning the totepool National Spirit Hurdle under Rhys Flint Picture by Clive Bennett

It was a superb and surprise effort from the six-year-old, who is trained by the jockey’s father John in Bridgend and began the contest priced at 16/1.

Thrilling the 2,400-strong crowd, Kayf Moss took the National Spirit crown in a photo finish from Robert Thornton on Meister Eckhart with Gary Moore’s Chris Pea Green a length-and-a-half back and the favourite another six lengths back.

Tomorrow: Promotion for Chichester’s rugby heroes

Watch it again - the start of the 2014 Chichester Priory 10k

Related topics:Paul NichollsPromotion