The Tin Man's a wizard at Haydock
Red-hot favourite Harry Angel burst out of the stalls without a problem this time after his mishap at Royal Ascot, but may have used up too much gas too soon, as despite having a break on all the field bar outsider Hey Jonesy, he was treading water inside the final furlong.
The challengers were coming from behind and for a horse who is usually held up, The Tin Man hit the front with more than a furlong to go under Oisin Murphy, who replaced Tom Queally in the saddle.
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Hide AdBrando and Gustav Klimt, who was last at halfway on his return to six furlongs, were closing in the final strides, but James Fanshawe’s 7-1 chance hung on to win by half a length, having been second two years ago and third last year.
Newmarket trainer Fanshawe said: “He’s a wonderful horse and is so consistent.
“You could argue that he’d been unlucky a couple of times this year.
“Everyone is biased towards their own horses, but I felt he’d run two really good races at Ascot and Deauville.
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Hide Ad“I was concerned about the (heavy) ground, but the rest of the family love it. It’s easy to say after the event.
“It was a long last furlong, but he’s won nicely. They went a bit quick and they got tired in front of him.
“He’s seen the trip out well and is a very good horse.”
Mekong ploughed through the mud to land a facile success in the Read Luke Morris Blog At Unibet Handicap.
Persistent rain meant conditions were testing on Merseyside, but that proved no problem to the Sir Michael Stoute-trained son of Frankel in the £100,000 contest.
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Hide AdHeld up off the pace set by Natural History, Mekong (9-4 favourite) cruised into contention two furlongs out before pulling away to score by seven lengths from that rival in the hands of Ryan Moore. Elegiac was eight lengths away in third.
“He went through the ground. That was a big advantage,’’ said Stoute.
“He’s a promising staying horse. He’s been progressing of late.’’
Great Scot is to be aimed at the Racing Post Trophy at Doncaster following his victory in the 32Red Ascendant Stakes.
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Hide AdTrainer Tom Dascombe believes the son of Requinto deserves his chance in next month’s Group One contest for two-year-olds at Doncaster after the 13-8 favourite proved two lengths too good for Floating Artist under Richard Kingscote in the Listed heat over a mile.
“He’s a very nice horse and has done everything we have asked of him – backwards,’’ said Dascombe.
“He has pulled like hell, he hasn’t settled.
“He’s done everything wrong and still won.
“The idea was we were going to drop him out the back, hunt round and follow them through, but he was too keen as they’ve gone no gallop.
“The ground is bottomless, but he obviously handles fast ground and he was desperately unlucky to not to win on soft ground in France. That’s why we’re here now.
“He could be just a bit better. I think we’ll run him in the Racing Post Trophy. I think he deserves his chance in a proper race and we’ll see how we get on.’’