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Moore stars on Klondike

Klondike benefited from a power-packed Ryan Moore ride to secure top honours in the Sky Bet Race To The Ebor Grand Cup.

Unraced as a juvenile, the son of Galileo was a narrow winner on his three-year-old debut at Newbury last season before running with credit in both the Cocked Hat Stakes at Goodwood and Newmarket’s Bahrain Trophy.

A disappointing effort in the Geoffrey Freer on his final outing of 2023 led to him being gelded during the off-season, and having made an encouraging return in handicap company at York’s Dante meeting last month, he was the 3/1 co-favourite of three on his return to the Knavesmire for this Listed event.

Moore was in no mood to hang around, sending Klondike straight to the front on what was his first start over a mile and three-quarters and committing for home halfway up long straight.

Salt Bay emerged as the biggest threat to the William Haggas-trained leader and a late lunge meant it was tight at the line, but Klondike stuck to his guns to hold on by a short head. The winner is now guaranteed a starting berth in the £500,000 Sky Bet Ebor over the same course and distance on August 24.

“That was a very nice performance, happy with that,” said Haggas’ assistant Issy Paul. “He made Ryan work for it a little bit, but he was in front quite a long way out and the ground is maybe a little bit sticky for him as well.”

Delight for Moore double

James’s Delight defied top-weight in emphatic fashion when coming with a late surge to score impressively in the Churchill Tyres Supporting Macmillan Sprint Handicap over – and a tilt at the Wokingham at Royal Ascot could come next.

Moore, completing a quick double, dropped the Clive Cox-trained three-year-old in behind the early pacesetters and when he asked his mount to quicken up at the furlong pole, the response was both immediate and decisive.

The victor has struggled in Group Three and Listed company when stepped up in class this term, but that was a third handicap success of the season for the Invincible Army gelding.

Having been sent off at 6/1, he prevailed by two and a quarter lengths from Almarada Prince, with 4/1 joint-favourite Elmonjed another length back in third.

Cox, was at Sandown, from where he said: “That was wonderful, I’m so pleased. It was a very confident ride from Ryan, as always, and I was thrilled with how James’s Delight has done it. It’s great for the Rooneys, who are big supporters.

“The way he changed gear there today fills me full of excitement. He does appreciate the ground, as although he won on good ground on Guineas day at Newmarket he prefers this end of the scale. Ryan won this race for us on Harry Three and if we can join up for these occasions I’m very happy.”

He added: “We’ll see how he comes back before we think of the Wokingham, winning today means he’ll have a penalty and that will be on top of a mark of 102 so we’ll see. But he’s clearly a three-year-old going places. We’ve got a fair team going to Ascot so I had a busy morning at home, which is why I went to Sandown rather than travelling up the M1.”

Moore said: “He’s an improving horse, it was a strongly-run race and it unfolded nicely for him.”

Striking debut win for Viking

The Strikin Viking lived up to his name with a stunning start to his racecourse career. Named in honour of Manchester City hotshot Erling Haaland by owners Middleham Park Racing, the Kevin Ryan-trained youngster broke sharply in the Reg Griffin Appreciation ebfstallions.com Maiden Stakes over six furlongs on the Knavesmire.

Always bowling along powerfully from there under Tom Eaves, the further he went, the better he looked, with the 8-1 chance ultimately striding right away from the field to score by an emphatic two and three-quarter lengths over Tiger Mask.

The victory came as no surprise to his trainer, who said: “He’s been very good from the day we’ve had him. I told Tim (Palin, syndicate manager) a while ago that I thought he was a very good horse and I think that’s why they put the name to him, as the boys are very passionate about Manchester City. I didn’t hide the fact how much I liked him to the syndicate today.

“They have to go and do it on a racecourse, but I think he’s a very smart horse. He’s done what he had to do today and I’ll speak to Tim next week. You might see him back here in August (for the Gimcrack Stakes), but we’ll be doing something beforehand.”

Tom Palin, who like his father is an avid Manchester City supporter, added: “He shoots, he scores, I guess! There’s a lot been made about our Manchester City names and we tend to save them for horses that we think have got a bit of ability. I didn’t realise he possessed quite that much, but we’ve never had a bad word from Kevin about him, he’s done nothing but please the team at home.

“When you come to the Knavesmire on debut, there’s a lot of things that can go wrong, you normally bump into nice horses here and they invariably work out well these maidens. Tom said it was tough to fault anything he did in the race. He came out of the stalls great, took him there on the bridle and was a total professional. You’d hope there’s more to come.”

Considering future plans, Palin said: “We’ve not sat down and talked about where we’re going to go, obviously Royal Ascot is next week, so that’s going to come far too soon for him. But there’s plenty of other options – the July meeting (at Newmarket) and things like that, but we’ll have a discussion with Kevin and see where we go.

“There’s a few Man City supporters in the syndicate, so it’s great it’s worked out so well. Winning today is a great start, we’ve probably got promoted from League Two now and can start thinking about League One!”

Tolstoy scores again

Brian Ellison’s Tolstoy achieved the rare feat of winning on successive days at York after knuckling down to land the Sky Bet Proud To Support Macmillan Handicap.

Just over 24 hours after providing 16-year-old apprentice Shay Farmer with his first ever winner, the Kingman gelding was a 100-30 favourite to follow up over the same seven furlongs, with the more experienced Ben Robinson taking over in the saddle.

While Friday’s victory was achieved with relative ease, Tolstoy had to dig deep to complete the quickfire double, getting the better of Quest For Fun by half a length, with New Image and Stone Soldier only a head and a neck further behind in third and fourth respectively.

“He was very game, wasn’t he? We didn’t know if he would back up obviously, but we just thought he didn’t have a penalty for yesterday and we’d give him another shot,” said Ellison.

“Ben said it didn’t really work out because he missed the break, but he got right down on the inside and gave him a great ride. I fancied him more yesterday. I said to the lad yesterday morning ‘if you hold your head, I think you’ll win’, it was only his second ride.

“We’re only half an hour down the road, so we took him home and he ate up and everything was fine. I thought he was a lot calmer in the paddock today, he’ll go on any ground and Ben thinks he’ll get a mile.”

Brotherton repeats the feat

Serena Brotherton was once again the toast of the Knavesmire after Lord Melbourne provided her with a fourth victory in the Queen Mother’s Cup.

It is 10 years since the veteran rider enjoyed her third success in a race which traditionally sees the successful rider win their weight in champagne, with her previous wins achieved in 1999 and 2003. Having finished a close-up fifth in a lucrative handicap at Epsom on Oaks day two weeks ago, the Ralph Beckett-trained Lord Melbourne was the 9-2 favourite to get 53-year-old Brotherton back in the York winner’s enclosure and the four-year-old travelled strongly for much of the mile-and-a-half journey.

Aine O’Connor did her best to draw the finish out of the market leader aboard Irish raider Whimsy, but Brotherton delivered her mount with a well-timed challenge to prevail by two and a quarter lengths.

Brotherton said: “I’m so glad I came, it’s so hard to get rides in these races now and to get the call-up to ride one with a chance and for it to come off is so wonderful. It went absolutely perfectly. I spoke to Tyler Heard yesterday, he rode him at Epsom, and he said just jump and sit handy with a bit of cover and he was sure he’d stay. I sat there and travelled well and I had my eye on the Irish horse as I felt they thought that would win. I thought I couldn’t give that one any rope and then I’ve got there going nearly too well, but he’s seen it out really well.”

Brotherton may well be back in 12 months’ time to bid for a fifth win, adding: “I’m 53 now, but Joe Fanning and Frankie (Dettori) are still going! It’s been a long time between drinks and it’s just magic. It’s so hard to ride a winner, let alone here, and this is my home track. Winners make the world go round and this is a really special day.”

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