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Blanco gets Appleby off to perfect start

Charlie Appleby kickstarted the new season off at Newmarket in perfect fashion after the imposing Cerro Blanco made a winning debut in the Alex Scott Maiden Stakes.

Victory in the seven furlong contest looked unlikely at one stage for the well-backed 4/9 favourite, who took time to hit full stride ahead of claiming glory under William Buick.

Faced with a wall of horses in front of him the odds-on market leader had to learn quickly on the job if he was to hit the ground running. However, once the penny dropped the son of Wootton Bassett began to make rapid headway late on before pulling clear in the final climb to the line to defeat the front-running Wield by a length-and-a-quarter.

The winning trainer said: “For a horse like him who has never come off the bridle it was always going to be the case that it would take some time to get going.

“In an ideal world, when they are like that, you want them to be able to see the dip and run at it, whereas behind a wall of them he was climbing and clambering and not know what he was doing, so there will be some marked improvement in that for sure.

“He has shown us so much speed at home that the last thing we wanted to do was let him face the breeze today. We will leave that for another day. He is a big unit, and he has got a switch on him, but as long as it is going the right way we are okay.

“It will be baby steps with him and there will be no bold jump up. He might have to go into another novice before venturing afar. He has got one hell of an engine him, but I want to control his brain first.”

Palmer thoughts turn to Royal Ascot

The 2026 Flat season might have only just begun, but trainer Hugo Palmer already has Royal Ascot on his mind for Adaay Of Scarlett, who showed plenty of speed to land the Gabriela Rose London British EBF Novice Stakes.

Having sent out fellow two-year-old Wait Geordie to score at Bath earlier this month the Malpas handler saw his second juvenile runner also make a winning start to life on the track with a ready success in the five furlong dash.

Always to the fore of matters the 11-8 favourite had little trouble in seeing off his four rivals by four and a quarter lengths to leave Palmer dreaming of a trip to the Royal meeting in June, via one other pit stop on route.

The trainer said: “Everything has been easier for him at home, and everything was easy for him today. When you win any maiden in the first few weeks of the season you are only thinking of one meeting, and when you win it as easy as that you are definitely thinking about that.

“We will run again and hope we can get there unbeaten. I think the horse that won at Bath will go to the Lily Agnes, and he would have a penalty in that. We have got the National Stakes at Sandown Park, but we will look and see.

“We felt going into the race he was sharp enough for five, but that he would improve for going six furlongs, and I think Oisin (Murphy) is still of that opinion. He said to me coming in that he knew he would win going to post, which is not often they say that. He is no longer qualified for the Windsor Castle, so we will just have to see which race we would aim at.”

Gallop keeps Classic dream alive

Darn Hot Gallop kept alive her chances of an appearance in the Betfred 1000 Guineas after preserving her unbeaten record when bursting through late on to land the Betway Sportsbook App Handicap.

Arriving with a brace of all-weather wins to her name, the James Tate-trained daughter of Too Darn Hot made a successful transition to the turf when prevailing in an entertaining finish to the conclusion of the mile test.

Plenty of the 12 runner field still held some kind of chance as the race entered its latter stages, but it was the diminutive Jaber Abdullah-owned filly, who is a relation to the mighty Enable, that poked her head through before scoring by half a length to score at 22/1.

Following the race Paddy Power and Sky Bet cut Darn Hot Gallop into 50/1 from 100/1 for the 1000 Guineas, which Tate admitted he wasn’t ruling out running the progressive filly in.

Tate said: “You get a bit nervous when you go off 22-1 in a handicap you think everyone knows something you don’t, plus she is not the biggest. She has got a great temperament and she has always worked well. One of her best qualities is that she has a really good attitude.

“She never sweats, never worries and only does what she is asked. She is a Too Darn Hot out of a sister to Enable so you never know. I don’t know if any horses have come from this handicap to run in the 1000 Guineas, but we like to be different. She is bred for ten furlongs and a stiff mile is no problem to her there.

“If you are thinking of using her handicap mark you would be thinking the Sandringham at Royal Ascot, but then she is a very well bred filly and she would be worth a lot of money if she got some black type so you don’t want to wait too long before you try to get some.”

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