Lowlights, on the other hand, included
his ride on Jardin de Beaulieu in the Arkle Challenge Trophy at the
Cheltenham Festival in 2002, in the days before remounting became a
fruitless exercise. The 100/1 outsider was tailed off when turning a
somersault at the second last fence, but was caught by a groundsman,
who offered Dennis a leg up. However, the well-meaning, but
heavy-handed, attempt to reunite the partnership succeeded only in
tossing the jockey clean over the horse and back onto the Prestbury
Park turf, from whence he had arisen just moments previously.
Nevertheless, Dennis survived the
trials and tribulations of a National Hunt jockey until 2011 and, two
years later, started training at Tyne Hill Stables, Hanley Swan, near
Worcester. He saddled his first winner as a trainer, Princess
Caetani, in a mile-and-a-half handicap at Chepstow in September 2013.
His one and, so far, only major success
came at Newbury in November, 2016, when Roman Flight, ridden by Noel
Fehily, won the bet365 Open Handicap Chase, worth just over £31,000
to the winner. All in all, Roman Flight won eight races over hurdles
and fences for his owners, the Favourites Racing Syndicate.
Other notable horses that Dennis has
handled in his short career include Maller Tree, who won twice in two
days at Fakenham and Wetherby in 2014 and twice in three days at
Newton Abbott and Huntingdon in 2015. In the 2014/15 season, Dennis
also saddled Marju’s Quest to complete a hat-trick of wins at
Worcester (twice) and Taunton. More recently, the Kayf Tara gelding
Final Nudge won three steeplechases for the yard in 2016/17 and
finished third in the Coral Welsh Grand National at Chepstow in
2017/18.
In March 2017, to coincide with the
Cheltenham Festival, Dennis celebrated the opening of a new, 60-box
yard and other facilities at Tyre Hill Stables. So far, he has
saddled 129 winners, 21 on the Flat and 108 over Jumps, and earned
just short of £1 million in total prize money.
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