Yesterday was a fantastic and exciting day for the whole team with 4 winners out of 8 runners including a Group 3 up at York. This is the first 4-timer we have had out of Kingsdown Stables and our horses really seem to have found their form after a quiet first half of the season, long may that continue!
First up at York, Royal Intervention battled gamely to land the (Group 3) Summer Stakes under a fantastic ride from Paul Hanagan. He couldn’t pull her up after the finish line and I’m really excited about the future for her. She seems to be getting better with each race and she may get an entry for the Group 1 Maurice de Gheesh at Deauville at the beginning of August. Kajsa Lindsjo who looks after her and rides her daily has done a fantastic job with her, as she can sometimes not be quite tricky at home.
Within a few minutes, Duckett's Grove put up a very classy performance winning the Close Brothers Property Finance Handicap (Class 3) at Ascot under a great ride from Hector Crouch. He was just awesome and has such a high cruising speed, he had his opposition beat a long way out. He loves the fast ground and I’m hugely excited about him. Our travelling head lad Gary Plasted rode Duckett’s Grove throughout the winter and has been very sure of his talent from the beginning, so he was absolutely beaming at Ascot yesterday!
Swindler then flew home to win the Long Harbour Derek Lucie-Smith Memorial Handicap Stakes (Class 3) under Liam Keniry at Ascot. He was making his Handicap debut and I cannot be happier with the way he won, it was a tremendous performance under a peach of a ride from Liam and he is another exciting horse for the remainder of the season. Well done to Monika Gasparova who rides and looks after him.
And Finally, Mountain Peak ridden by Andrea Atzeni claimed the James Ford Designs Handicap Stakes (Class 2) at Newmarket in emphatic style, rewarding his very patient owners. After a fine season last year he has not been quite at his best this year and his regular jockey Liam Keniry had suggested a change of tactics may work and he was right, so plenty of credit must go to him. He is another that loves the fast ground and I look forward to getting him out again soon. Well done to Tristan who rides him out everyday and has done a great job with him!
Of our other runners, He’s Amazing was disappointing and its back to the drawing board with him. Fille de Reve has been working so well at home and is not producing that work in her races so we will have a good look at her and hopefully get her back on track for the rest of the season.Baryshnikov ran a super race in a very competitive Handicap at Ascot and is heading in the right direction and Brigham Young thankfully seems OK this morning after pulling up at Chester after taking a wrong step. Pictured below is Royal Intervention digging deep to win the Group 3 at York.