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Rum victory for Portman

Jonathan Portman can once again take aim at bigger and better prizes with stable star Rumstar, who bagged the second Group Three success of his career when swooping late in the Coral Charge at 11/2 at Sandown Park.

Having scored at the same level on his return to action in the Palace House Stakes at Newmarket the Havana Grey gelding had since failed to feature in the Group Two Temple Stakes at Haydock Park and at the top level in the King Charles III Stakes at Royal Ascot.

Despite being burdened with a penalty for his comeback win the five-year-old demonstrated his talents when coming from off the pace under Rob Hornby to plunder the £85,000 five furlong test.

Victory looked to be heading the way of early leader She’s Quality, who managed to quickly bag the run closest to the rail, but just like when the pair met on the Rowley Mile in May she was picked off by Rumstar, who prevailed by three quarters of a length.

Portman said: “It is fantastic. For any sprinter everything needs to go just right on the day. I don’t think he likes Haydock Park and at Royal Ascot I think we got into top gear too soon and we were a bit wide and it just didn’t work for us.

“We made a conscious decision today just to hang on to him a bit and come through them, which is very risky at Sandown Park as you often don’t get that run and you get a bit of traffic.

“Rob found that gap, and he did it to perfection, but he knows the horse well and he loves the horse as much as I do.

“We didn’t enter him in the King George Stakes at Goodwood as I thought five furlongs for him in that grade was a bit sharp for him. I’m not sure where we will go now to be honest.”

While Rumstar is yet to prove himself in Group One company his triumphant rider believes he is more than capable of winning at the highest level.

Hornby said: “Today he shot through like a good horse with a lot of weight, which isn’t easy to do in this division as these horses keep popping up.

“Haydock Park he has never liked and Ascot is Ascot so let’s not look too much into that so take that out of it and he has had a pretty immaculate season so far.

“I didn’t use my stick on him today and he took off and he hit the line strong. As a feel what he gave me today was better than Newmarket.

“We are going to have to try for a big one as he is a horse that is capable of it as he showed an electric turn of foot today.”

Classic success for Levey

Richard Hannon saw his early morning brainwave come to fruition in fine style after Classic got his career back on track with a decisive front-running success in the Coral Challenge.

Usually held up in his races, the gelded son of Dubawi was bounced out into an early lead by Sean Levey to take up a position he would hold onto all the way to the line in the £125,000 contest.

Entering the home straight the 6/1 chance was there for the taking for those stacked up in behind, however as the field reached the final two furlongs it was the Julie Wood-owned five year old that was still travelling best.

And once he was asked for his maximum effort the response was instant with Classic, who scored at the Esher track as a three-year-old, pulling out more than enough to defeat the running on Arisaig by a length and three quarters.

Hannon said: “I rang Julie at about 7am as I said this horse is drawn well today (in stall two) so shall we do something different as I’m sick of seeing him unlucky looking like he has all the ability in the world, but today he looked like he was never going to get beaten.

“Jack (son) said to me, a furlong from home, is Sean okay as he looks like he is injured as he is not trying.

“Today everything went to plan and he travelled around in front and that might ignite his enthusiasm. He never used to settle, but he is settling much better this year.

“He seems to be more of a man and that he realises he has to save a bit for late on. Last year he was very keen and we had to get him in behind horses to show him a brick wall so he had to settle.

“This year he has settled much better so that is why we thought we would let him roll and if he is in front, as that is what he does at home, we would let him do it here."

And while Hannon raised the possibility of stepping Classic into Group race company further down the line he hinted that he could drop him back to seven furlongs at the end of the month for the International Handicap, which he was trimmed into 10/1 for by Paddy Power.

Hannon added: “He could well turn out to be a Group horse masquerading as a handicapper, but he has made several jockeys look like they have given him moderate rides, but I think that is more down to him.

“The horse has had a lot of near misses, but he is an extremely talented horse and he is by a stallion where anything is possible.

“He could come back to seven furlongs as he has loads of speed and loads of ability so he could turn up in the International.”

Blue is the colour in the Distaff

Colin Keane judged his fractions from the front to perfection aboard Blue Bolt, who made it a hat-trick of wins for the season when taking a step up in class in her stride in the Coral Distaff.

The Andrew Balding-trained daughter of Blue Point showed a tenacious attitude from the sharp end to add to novice victories gained at Windsor and Newbury in the Listed mile contest to make it three wins from just four career starts.

After getting the better of an early battle to lead the field with Suite Francaise the well-supported 2/1 favourite never looked in any danger of getting beat in her hat-trick bid.

Although Cajole, who finished second in the Sandringham at Royal Ascot last month, looked like a big danger when coming around the field she was forced to settle for the runner-up spot once again with Blue Bolt prevailing by a length.

Keane said: “She seems to be a filly going in the right direction. She is very uncomplicated and you can put her where you want.

“Ideally we would have liked something to aim at, but when nothing was going forwards, and we had the draw we had, there was no point taking her back.

“She relaxes in front and she was tough when I needed her. I’m still getting the hang of the place, but for a stiff track it is hard to come from too far back of it.

“When the ground is like that being on the pace helps, and being on a nice filly is a bigger help.

“I think she can (make an impact at Group race level). She seems like a filly that is progressing from run-to-run so I don’t see any reason why she can’t keep going in that direction.

“I think a mile is a good fit for a moment, but maybe in time you could see her going up in trip.”

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