Newmarket review: Burrows eyes Ascot with Wadilsafa


Owen Burrows can begin to map out a path to bigger and better prizes with Wadilsafa after he gained revenge on his revenge on Herculean in the Pegasus Profiles Flying Horse Novice Stakes at Newmarket.

Having finished second behind the Roger Charlton-trained son of Frankel on his debut at Ascot, the Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum-owned three-year-old, who is also by Frankel, made the most of the 7lb he received from his old rival in the mile event.

Sitting handy throughout, the 15/8 shot picked up well inside the final two furlongs before clearing smartly away to defeat Herculean by three and a quarter lengths, completing a treble for winning rider Jim Crowley.

Burrows said: "He was a bit fresh and gave Jim a little bit of a hard time going down. Mentally he is still a bit of a baby. He travelled good and found it a bit quick in the dip, but once he hit the rising ground he came home good.

"We will sit down and have a discussion to see what is what, but he is the type of horse that is mentally only going to get better with racing.

"I had it in my head he would be a 10-furlong horse, but the family have fooled me before. He looks a big, strong galloper and the Hampton Court (at Royal Ascot) could be a nice race for him."

Despite tasting defeat, connections of the runner-up were satisfied with his performance and are confident plenty of big days still lie ahead.

Charlton's son and assistant, Tom, said: "We were very happy. He was giving the winner 7lb and it rode like a good race.

"The ground was maybe a bit too quick, but he will definitely get 10 furlongs. This is all part of the learning curve for him.

"He is a big frame of a horse and is going to improve as the season goes on. Bigger races may come a bit too soon for him at the moment."

Gary Moore thanked the patience of owner Paul Hunt as Guns Of Leros made a winning return off the back of a 588-day absence in the Moyes Investments Handicap.

Moore said of the 40/1 winner: "He had an injury and thank goodness Mr Hunt gave him enough time to get over it. I'd done a fair amount of work with him and he has been in training a long time. I did think he would probably need the race, but he was kind of gifted it."

The Roger Varian-trained Shabeeb (11/4 joint-favourite) ended a barren run stretching back almost two years when forming the middle leg of Crowley's haul in the Edmondson Hall Solicitors & Sports Lawyers Handicap.

Richard Hills, representing winning owner Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum, said: "He is not straightforward, but I thought he was given a good ride. He likes to come late and doesn't want to be in front too soon.

"We will just take little steps, but I am so pleased he has won. If he was to stay two miles he would definitely be better over that."

Warsaan gained his reward for a string of consistent efforts when taking the second division of the seven-furlong rewards4racing.com Handicap, getting the ball rolling for Crowley and Burrows.

The Lambourn handler said of the 13/8 winner: "He is not a lot, bless him, and I didn't think I would call him a winner at Newmarket, but to be fair he never runs a bad race."

Having trailed home last at Kempton on his previous start, the William Jarivs-trained Arigato (25/1) finished at the front of the field on this occasion when landing division two, to form the opening leg of a double for Kieran Shoemark.

There was more success for Shoemark when he got the Amanda Perrett-trained Saluti (12/1) home by a head in the Chemtest Environmental Laboratories Handicap.

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