Maltese Cross books Betfred Derby place by winning Lingfield Trial

Tom Marquand’s partner went to the front inside the final two furlongs but the runner-up, racing against the far rail, rallied strongly.

There was little between them throughout the closing stages but at the line the William Haggas-trained colt was a neck to the good, with a yawning six-and-a-half lengths back to Balzac in third.

Paddy Power and Sky Bet cut the winner to 12/1 for 16s for the Betfred Derby.

“He was an extremely exciting horse for us over the winter having won on his second start last year and there’s no hiding away from it, at Newbury (on his reappearance), I and everyone in the team expected a lot from him and that race probably left a few questions,” the winning rider told ITV Racing.

“He didn’t win by far, you could have thrown a picnic rug over the first six, and it was interesting how the race was rated, it was rated quite well.

“But today he impressed me. He didn’t win by far, but I think he’s starting to show his racing style and I got more of a feel of him and what he’s about. I was impressed with that.

“He’s had to battle a couple of times, and the pleasing thing is where I thought the ceiling might be after Newbury, it wasn’t there, and I still don’t think I quite found out where it is today which is the bit I’m most happy about.

“I’m sure William will say the same and he’s an extremely exciting horse. He’s won a trial and is an interesting horse now. He’ll relish the trip in the Derby, as he did here, the track won’t be a problem as he’s shown today and he likes fast ground. He’s every bit ready to go and we’ll find out if he’s good enough on the day.”

Haggas added of the Derby: “He’s going to have a shot at it if he’s alright, of course he is. When you run in a trial this is what there is, this is what’s around, and obviously the team across the water are pretty strong. But why can’t we have a go?

“I think Tom felt he was much better today, he was like me and a bit underwhelmed at Newbury, we were expecting better. He said he got there too early today and had a bit of a fight and Ralph’s horse ran very well and is obviously a useful horse.

“They pulled quite a bit clear. Whether the favourite ran his race who knows but we can only look at it positively and say we hope he’ll get to the Derby and providing he stays fit and well, he’ll be there.”

George Waud, the winning owner, said: “We are going to the show! (the Betfred Derby). It's sort of inconceivable to end up with such a good one and I have to give credit to my agent Sam Haggas and my manager Gav Chengalanee. It's quite emotional actually.

“I used to be in films. I produced a bit of theatre as well. I'm also the chairman of Old Gold Racing, which is a multi-owner syndicate business - we've got 40 horses in training, 30,000 owners now, so, you know, that's going very well.

“All the way with this horse from Malcolm Bastard having him in pre-training to William going to see him, they just had a feeling about him.”

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