Tom Clover landed Group 3 success at Newmarket on Thursday as his Fuel The Jet took the step up in class in the Tattersalls Stakes in his stride.
The son of Space Blues (13/2) won what was a messy renewal by three-quarters of a length to deny the Marco Botti-trained Notable Dream (9/2).
Last seen winning a nursery at the Betfred St Leger Festival, the two-year-old was keen in early stages under Neil Callan, who was eventually able to settle him in the rear of the field. The colt made nice progress down the outside to hit the front just over a furlong out and stayed on strongly to take his healthy winning record to three from five.
Notable Dream was never far from the pace and kept on down the rail under Silvestre De Sousa to take second late in the contest, stepping up from his last performance when finishing down the field in the Superlative Stakes.
The eventual third, 3/1 favourite Mezzo Forte, met traffic issues under Ryan Moore, having found no racing room in front of him, the son of Wootton Bassett forced to switch wide and concede first run to the rest of the field. He plugged on down the outer to finish just under two lengths behind Fuel The Jet.
Great Balls O’Fire (6/1) set out in front under Saffie Osborne, but was headed over one furlong out before being eased off late in the race to finish at the rear of the field.
Clover, who was celebrating his 41st birthday, said: “He is growing up, which is great to see. He is behaving much better now. He was well behaved in the prelims and he was relaxing nicely.
“We were checking the race and about fifteen minutes before entries were closing there were only four in it so we went in.
“He just came out of Doncaster really well and the lad who has been riding him every day has been very happy riding him.
“On the ratings we thought he was value off his mark, but there was more to gain than there was to lose by giving this a go, and it has worked out, which is always nice. I’m not really sure what we do for the rest of the year. He is probably better on some better ground.
“Whether we think abroad I don’t know, we will let the dust settle, or just dream about next year I’m not sure."
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Botti said of the runner-up: “It was a good run. I thought he looked like the first beaten, but then he stayed on. I was praying for a little bit of rain last night as that would have made a big difference for him as he seems to be one of those horses that wants to get his toe into the ground.
“When they got to him he picked up as once he hit the rising ground he stayed on again. It was a good effort. He is a nice horse going forward.
“We will probably go to Italy to try and win the Gran Criterium in October. It is a Group Three with good prize money so it makes sense. It is over seven and a half furlongs and I would imagine at the end of October we should have some rain by then.
“He ran well in the Superlative at the July Meeting, but he probably lacked a bit of experience. Today he has shown he is a black type horse. He is going the right way and he has a great attitude. Next year he could be an interesting horse.”
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