1866 heralded the first of the Windsor racecourse meetings,
today in 1996 the racecourse still thrives and continues to put on some
spectacular Monday evening sport.
And no more so than seven races from this
evenings card, Jockeys reveling after a superb Epsom Derby meeting and keying
themselves up for the looming Royal Ascot meeting in a weeks’ time.
No more so than the Godolphin team and Saeed bin Suroor, James Doyle who took the two-year-old novices stake with Bin Battuta.
The Dubawi colt on his maiden voyage seemed to show his
paces well, and as you would expect. James Doyle mentioning
‘This was his first
day at school, and he has done this well. I got to the front a little sooner
than I wanted really. Probably a little late in the day for Royal Ascot with this one, but
certainly one to make some plans for later on.’
Still on a high from
his successes at Epsom the jockey is looking forward in taking his good form onto
the Royal meeting,
Log out Island in the Commonwealth Cup being a ride he would
be looking forward to the most.
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| James Doyle who took the two-year-old novices stake with Bin Battuta. |
David
Evans rarely sends a runner to the Royal County without a shout.
And none more
so than My Lord the 15/8/ fav who took on the one mile two furlong claiming
race beating Gay Moore’s Mount Shamsan by quarter of a length.
The
consistent eight-year-old with seven pound claimer Aled Beech on board who
claimed his first win on the horse after a number of placed attempts seemed to
lap up the final furlong pulling clear of the rest of the field.
’ He traveled
really nice for me today, it was nice to get a win out of him after a string of
placed runs.’
The young Carmarthen born apprentice who is a product of the
British Racing school seemed to ride the Ishiguru gelding with great
confidence, with the master of Abergavenny watching on seems to be a young
jockey with a possible future. ‘You come into this business for the love of the
horses, but to get winners here for Mr Evans, it’s the best feeling.’
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| My Lord the 15/8/ fav who took on the one mile two furlong claiming race |
The
third race a one mile two furlongs handicap, Newmarket based Chris Wall sent
Oasis Spear to post the 15/8 fav.
Ridden
by George Baker the Oasis Dream Four-year-old ran on well through the final
furlong to beat Ed de Giles’s Prendergast Hill by a length and a half.
‘The
horse is still very much on a learning curve, we had a plan with him today to
have him handy, but he will tend to not concentrate in front.’ The jockey mentioning that the Oasis Dream
gelding would get a further trip, but the good fast ground on offer would be
his limit.
The jockey who always seems to have one or two nice
handicappers to ride at Royal Ascot mentioned,’ I have one or two nice horses
to ride but it will depend on ground and running where they will go.
I ride a
few for David Lanigan, Interception being one of them if the ground is quick
enough, it will probably be one of her last runs as she in foal at the moment.'
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| Newmarket based Chris Wall sent Oasis Spear to post the 15/8 fav. |
The afternoon got better for the James Doyle and Chris wall
combination when 100/30 shot First Sitting took the one mile three handicap for
four year olds and upwards by five lengths from James Tate’s Ruwasi.
The five-year-old gelding seemed to take the final furlong
with no effort when asked to run by the in form Doyle.
‘My form is good at the moment,
and that’s what you want going into the royal meeting gets you in there with
plenty of confidence, but this horse has done it well enough tonight, not an
easy route through but they went an even sort of pace and it helped.’
A jockey
to follow I think next week at the Royal meeting, the air of confidence around
the ‘Doyler’ seems good at present.
One to watch.
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| The afternoon got better for the James Doyle and Chris wall combination when 100/30 shot First Sitting took the one mile three handicap for four year olds and upwards |
The fifth race of the evening, six furlongs for maiden three
year olds and upwards went to the Newmarket based team of Roger Varian and
Andrea Atzeni.
After their success
in the Coronation cup at Epsom last week the team of Atzeni and Varian would
not be one to look over, and Raising Sand a beautiful big type of four-year-old
took the six furlongs maiden in fine style,beating by a length and a half the favorite Andrew Blading’s Dark Shot.
The bay gelding by Oasis Dream tended to drift slightly left
from the stands rails when placed under pressure but still stayed on well to
take his race. ‘I’ve followed the favorite through the race and he has he has
really taken his race well, he is a nice big sort of racehorse.’ Mentioned the
jockey still on a high from his classic success at the weekend. Now looking forward
to his Royal Ascot rides the jockey confirmed, 'I sat on Mizzou and it looks
that it will be my ride in the Ascot Gold cup.’
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| Raising Sand |
The penultimate race a six furlongs Classified stakes for
three year olds, twelve went to post, Richard Hannon sending Papa Luigi to post
the 3/1 fav with top claimer on board Tom Marquand.
The Zoffany colt was ridden just behind the lead pack until the
final furlong when Marquand asked for action and answers were given as the
horse pulled away from second place September issue by Three and a half lengths.
‘This is a horse that has improved each time he runs,’ Mentioned
the jockey. ‘He actually enjoys his racing now, I was actually quite confident
about him tonight, last year things didn’t go his way, but he has improved
well.’
The three-year-old with two wins out of ten starts, one on
grass and the other the all-weather looks a sort that has taken time to grow
physically and mentally and won this event easy enough to make him something that
could be very nice for the Hannon team. To be sure he will be placed well over
the next few months and would be one to watch.
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| Richard Hannon sending Papa Luigi to post the 3/1 fav with top claimer on board Tom Marquand |
The finals race of the evening a handicap again for three
year olds, this time over the five furlong dash went by the way of champion
jockey’s Sylvester De Sousa’s mount Moondyn Joe.
The 9/2 shot Bushranger gelding had to be pushed by the
champ all the way to the line, only winning by a neck from in form James Doyle
on Clive cox’s Silken Skies.
The horse now on two wins from three runs seemed to have
what looked like a leisurely pace on him for a sprinter, but seems to come up
with the goods, De Sousa mentioning,’ The horse hasn’t run for a long time so
it was nice to get a winner for Mr Burke,’ the horse being off track for eleven
months showed that he hadn’t forgotten how to run, the handicapper on that form
shouldn’t take too much notice at this point, but another win could see his
rating increase, one to watch next time out as then an idea of where this nice big
gelding would be aimed for in the future would come apparent.
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| The finals race of the evening a handicap again for three year olds, this time over the five furlong dash went by the way of champion jockey’s Sylvester De Sousa’s mount Moondyn Joe |
