Our man at the track on Bacio's Nunthorpe and one unsung hero before the stalls even opened.
York hailed an all-American victory in the Coolmore City Of Troy Nunthorpe Stakes.
Well, almost. It needed a helping hand.
Because as Bacio became unsettled and threatened to boil over in the stalls prior to the Group One dash, it was Kevin Stott’s outstretched hand from the back of Aint That A Shame in an adjacent box that helped bring the situation back under control.
Once the gates were open there were no more worries. It was a performance of controlled aggression that blew the field apart and dispelled the wide-held theory that the rain of Thursday would blunt the three-year-old's natural speed and make him a sitting duck.
He wasn't for sitting and had the race won by the furlong pole.
