Barry Hills makes the 3,000 winner mark!

Chapter And Verse gives Hills 3,000th winner


BARRY HILLS notched the 3,000th victory of his career on Tuesday, just under 40 years after opening his account, when Chapter And Verse kept straight to deny the hanging Mt Kintyre at Pontefract.

Sent off the 4-7 favourite for the opening median auction stakes, Chapter And Verse, travelling well in second, looked all set for a prime place in the Hills history books until pushed along soon after turning for home and seemingly unable to pass the leader, Shaaridh.

Just as Hills's grey began to get the better of that argument, Mt Kintyre came from behind to challenge the winner, but that rival hung badly right across the course, allowing Chapter And Verse to hold on by a neck under the trainer's son, Michael Hills.


Hills, who saddled his first winner, La Dolce Vita, at Thirsk on April 18 in 1969, could take his tally past the 3,000 milestone with his only other runner at Pontefract on Tuesday, and said: "It is quite a lot and I don't know how many people have done it, but it's been a long time and I've enjoyed it."

"I could see the other horse drifting and I knew that wasn't going to help his cause," Hills continued. "He probably would have beaten us if he had kept straight, but you need a bit of a luck and a tailwind in racing."

Chapter And Verse will now hold a special place on the 72-year-old's cv alongside numerous big-race successes, including, ten Classics and the 1973 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, according to the winning jockey.

"Chapter And Verse will be famous now and he'll have one of the biggest pictures up at home," he said, adding: "It's a fantastic achievement by Dad and he's a wonderful trainer. His winners have come in all shapes and sizes."

Assistant trainer Charlie Hills, also a son of the trainer, added: "I'm sure my Dad will be delighted. It was 10 years ago when he had his 2,000th winner, and that was with a horse called Summer Bounty.