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Remember the Name: Lump Sum

Gold Cup-winning jockey Sam Thomas is now carving a career for himself as a successful trainer and he believes recent Kempton winner Lump Sum is 'definitely one of the best ones yet' in his care.

Thomas saw Lump Sum run out a convincing winner of the Grade 2 Dovecote Novices' Hurdle at the Sunbury-on-Thames venue on Saturday afternoon and will now ponder options at both the Cheltenham Festival and Aintree's Grand National meeting for this promising six-year-old.

Owned by successful Welsh businessman Dai Walters, connections have quickly identified a slightly longer-term aspiration on home soil that is worth putting in the notebook.

Horse Racing

Lump Sum Trainer/Connections

Sam Thomas Racing is based at The Hollies in Lisvane on the outskirts of Cardiff, and is home to a fiercely proud and ambitious Welshman.

Thomas is well connected in the racing game and his growing team now sees more than 30 horses in training at The Hollies.

Thomas had a decade in the saddle and rode more than 500 winners for some of the country's leading National Hunt trainers. Initially, he honed his skills close to home at David Evans' yard before switching to Venetia Williams by the age of 20.

His efforts there got the attention of the best in the business in Britain and Thomas was offered the job as understudy to Ruby Walsh at Paul Nicholls' yard in Ditcheat.

In that post he got the leg up on some of the best jumpers of this century and, without doubt, his finest day in the saddle came in March 2008 when he partnered Denman to a famous Cheltenham Gold Cup win over stablemate Kauto Star.

Owner Dai Walters is a self-made plant hire and construction magnate with a keen interest in racing and a tradition of owning good horses.

The likes of Whisper and William Henry have brought Walters success at the Cheltenham Festival, though perhaps Oscar Whisky remains his best-known performer.

Walters loves to buy young, unproven horses before they've even raced in point-to-points, hoping to uncover talent the unconventional way. A lover of racing, he was the mastermind behind Ffos Las racecourse in Carmarthenshire, the first turf track to open in Britain in 80 years.

He and Thomas share a unique bond, having survived a helicopter accident in November 2022 that left Walters sedated for 10 weeks after suffering a broken leg, ribs, shoulder, back and neck. He has, thankfully, recovered fully from his ailments.

Lump Sum Cost

Lump Sum was bought for €58,000 at the 2019 Arqana Autumn Sales in Deauville, France by Highflyer Bloodstock before transferring to Walters' ownership ahead of his racing debut at Bangor-on-Dee in October 2022.

Lump Sum Breeding

Lump sum was bred by Antoine Sauty De Chalon in France. He is a son of Epsom Derby winner Authorized, out of the mare Fleur Enchantee.

He is a half-brother to French 1m1½ f-1m3f winner Saint Honore; while his dam was French Group-placed 1m1½ f-13.5f winner (also placed 2m2f hurdle) from the family of smart staying hurdler Royal Rosa.

Lump Sum Achievements

Lump Sum's first trip to the racecourse was a winning one, landing a bumper at Bangor in October 2022 under Sam Twiston-Davies. The pairing would finish third at Hereford carrying a penalty the following April but it would be this season over hurdles before Lump Sum really started to show his potential.

Wins at Ffos Las and Wincanton in maiden/novice hurdles were the perfect starting point and at Doncaster in January Lump Sum was second to leading Supreme Novices' Hurdle contender Jeriko Du Reponet from the Nicky Henderson yard.

Many felt he was a little unlucky in that race with how things panned out and, so, he was a warm order for the Dovecote at Kempton on his next start. The Ben Pauling-trained Fiercely Proud had finished upsides Lump Sum at Doncaster but at Kempton there was a clear 4½-lengths splitting them as the winner improved again.

Twiston-Davies has ridden Lump Sum in five of his career runs, missing out only at Doncaster.

Lump Sum Future Aspirations

Thomas confirmed after Kempton that a conscious decision was made not to target the Grade 1 novice races at the Cheltenham Festival. Instead, Lump Sum holds entries in the County Handicap Hurdle, for which he is 14/1, over 2m1f and the Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys' Handicap Hurdle (14/1) over 2m4f.

Of those possible targets, Thomas says: "He could still be well handicapped, but that is a decision for Mr Walters and myself to have a chat about in the next week or two."

Aintree is also a possibility this spring and, further down the line, the trainer has pinpointed an autumn target at Ffos Las in a race his owner would dearly love to win.

"Our dream would be to try to win the Welsh Champion Hurdle and I know Mr Walters is desperate to win that, so that will be our first target next season," Thomas added following the Dovecote win.

This article was written by a partner sports writer via Spotlight Sports Group. All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.

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