BYTON trainer Kerry Lee has had a quiet time of late but a recent win at Cheltenham showed the stable was returning to form and she had another winner as her Nemean Lion ran out a wide-margin winner of the two mile maiden hurdle at Hereford Racecourse on Tuesday.

The Lee runner was allowed to start at 14/1 in the betting, but such was the talent on show from the five-year-old that despite a mistake at the second last hurdle they sauntered home nine and a half-length winners from the 6/4 favourite Light Em Up Nigel.

The win was the first leg of a local double for jockey Ricard Patrick as he later teamed up with Downton Hall trainer Henry Daly to score on the well supported Braganza Boy in the extended three-mile handicap hurdle.   

Braganza Bay had been beaten out of sight in his previous nine finishes but he was well supported on the day down from 14/1 to 9/4, but trainer Henry Daly said he was surprised by the strength of market support for his runner.

When asked about the gamble. Daly said afterwards: "I had a look last night and saw him at 12/1 and thought that was fair enough, then I looked this morning and saw he was 11/4.

“I thought, wow, people clearly know a lot more about this game than I do. He should have won way before now. I think the right term for him is enigmatic – he's run perfectly well sometimes then ran terrible the next. He ran very well on his first try over hurdles at Market Rasen but he hasn't since.

"I think the first time over the trip may have helped him here too, but in truth I haven't got a clue. He's off 88, which probably made the difference.”

Trainer and brother combination Dan and Harry Skelton teamed up with two winners also on the day with an impressive 17 length win in the two mile three and a half furlong for Vicki Vale and their Jet Plane soared home in the extended three mile novice handicap chase  by 24 lengths.

Like the impressive Nemean Lion it would be no surprise to see Vicky Vale both go considerably up in class and win again.