Good Lad

Wed 05 Nov 2025

Winner 70 of 2025: COPSHILL LAD, trained by Harry Derham and ridden by Paul O’Brien. The “BeatWright: Beat The Wright Way Novices' Handicap Chase (GBB Race)” over 3m1f at Hereford.

There sure was a bit of excitement around, ahead of his first start over fences, having listened to Harry at our annual stable visit only two weeks ago, about how well he took to the big obstacles. Our grey is a bit of a yard favourite, and it was wonderful to see the huge crowd of owners in attendance at Hereford, cheering him home.

Paul always had him in a good position, right up there with the leading pair. His jumping and stamina were key to his victory, as evidenced by a very fluent round under Paul O’Brien. Copshill came under pressure and was headed two out, but showed a fantastic attitude, and his tenacity saw him out on top after the last to win by 3 lengths.

Watch the full race replay here: https://www.attheraces.com/racecard/Hereford/03-November-2025/1420

"I was very pleased with COPSHILL LAD. I think the key was his jumping. We thought about going chasing when he was beaten at Ascot last year, but we wanted to give him a full season afterwards. He's not the fastest, but he's very genuine, and he kept on galloping. Hopefully, chasing can bring out further improvement." - Harry Derham.

Timeform rated his victory with a 109+: "Made a winning start over fences after 7 months off, impressing with his jumping and showing a good attitude; led, joined third, chased leader from sixth, jumped on again fourteenth, headed again before 2 out, ridden soon after, stayed on to lead again run-in; he's open to improvement. Led, jumped well, joined 3rd, chased leader from 6th, jumped on again 14th, headed again before 2 out, rallied to lead again run-in."

Paul O'Brien was delighted with the performance from Copshill Lad: "We didn't go much of a gallop, but his jumping was absolutely superb. When we started racing from about halfway around the back straight, I was keen to go forward, keep him in a rhythm, and he absolutely flew the last. We knew he would stay well and so he did, a brilliant performance. Delighted with him, really."

Find the official racecourse photos taken from his victory, via the link here: https://www.photodesign.co.uk/horse-racing