Owner/trainer Tom Malone is eyeing another crack at the PPORA’s champion young horse title, which he won last season with seven-year-old The Last But One.
Taunton-based Malone (pictured above) said: "I've bought The Last But One's half-brother, Let's Get At It, in a bid to try and do the same with him and win the Young Horse Championship.
"I'm hoping to run them both at Wadebridge on December 8th. It would be lovely to bring up a double with two half-brothers. I'll probably run The Last But One in the ladies' open race with Jo Supple on board, and Will Biddick will ride the other one."
The Last But One had won under Rules before joining Malone, and Let's Get At It has a similar profile, having landed three handicap hurdles around the turn of the year for trainer Olly Murphy. His new trainer said: "We've schooled him and he's different class."
Reigning champ The Last But One scored six times, including a walkover, last season when he was also placed three times, on one occasion finishing second in a Leicester hunters' chase. Malone said: "It was my fault he was beaten, because those defeats came on proper staying tracks, and he's much better over an easy three miles.
"He was turned out all summer and has come back in looking bigger and stronger. He's a bit too well at the moment and is ready to run, but while I'll give him an entry for Dunsmore [November 17th] on the opening day of the season it clashes with the Sunday of Cheltenham [November meeting] and I can't miss that."
The Last But One had to fend off a spirited challenge from the Tim Underwood-trained Streets Of London to win last season's title, and Malone is hoping to engage with the same owner/trainer once again in 2020. Underwood won the Foran Equine Champion Trainer title for yards with seven or fewer horses, and with a string of six Malone is not dismissing a possible challenge for that award.