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Storm wins on debut to earns Classic quotes

Distant Storm earned Classic quotes after hitting the ground running to make a winning debut in the Weatherbys British EBF Maiden Stakes.

The 1.9 million euro purchase wasted no time in paying off a small slice of his hefty price tag in the seven furlong contest, which was claimed 12 months ago by this year’s Tattersalls Irish 2000 Guineas winner and St James’s Palace Stakes hero Field Of Gold.

Sent off the 5/6 favourite to make his first start a winning one the odds-on favourite was not handed the race on a plate with fellow debutant Constitution River, from the yard of Aidan O’Brien, serving it up to him late on.

But as the pair eyeballed each other going to the line it was Distant Storm who was to get the verdict by a short-head to give Appleby and Buick a third victory on the day.

Charlie Appleby said: “He justified his price at the end of the day. We came here confident as he has been a very straightforward horse to deal with. He was bought from the breeze-up sale so you would expect him to know a bit more. His pedigree, needless to say, you can get excited about, but as an individual I like him. He is a very normal horse. He is not flashy and he doesn’t draw attention to himself. He gets out there and does what we ask him to do in a nice manner.

“Hopefully he is a horse that will mentally progress quicker than some of the other buzzy ones that take a week or two to de-buzz them. With this horse, with the head he has got, he gives himself the opportunity to keep developing, which he needs to do as he is a slight horse still so he will keep progressing. They are two nice horses pulling clear of the rest of them. They both ran straight and they both ran honest and you like to see that (a battle) for future reference.

“You can come up here and win a maiden by a couple of lengths without doing a great deal then you bang them up into better company next time and they are lost. He learnt plenty today and everything was very pleasing.”

Although Distant Storm holds an entry in the Group One Goffs Vincent O’Brien National Stakes in September the Newmarket handler hinted that the Group Three Tattersalls Acomb Stakes at York next month as a potential target.

Appleby added: “We will give him a bit of time. He is a horse that is very unfurnished still. He is a nice looking horse, but he still needs to strengthen before you go up to that level as if you pitch them in at that level too soon you will go quickly backwards. There will be races in the autumn we can dip our toe in and allow him to progress. If he ticks the next box we can look at the Group One target we have pencilled in. With the mindset of him he could be an Acomb horse.”

Charter set to go on travels

Earlier, Appleby hinted that King’s Charter could form part of his team to head out to Meydan over the winter after continuing his progression with victory in the bet365 Handicap at Newmarket.

Arriving on the back of a novice success over a mile at Doncaster last time out the Kingman gelding clearly appreciated stepping up a further two furlongs in trip with a ready success on his handicap debut.

Racing amongst rivals throughout the early stages of the race the 9-4 favourite steadily worked his way into contention under William Buick before making his move inside the final quarter of a mile.

Despite taking a few strides to reach Marhaba Ghaiyyath the victory was soon wrapped up with King’s Charter pulling out enough close home to score by three-quarters of a length.

Appleby said: “The ground would have been quick enough and we felt when Dougie (Costello) rode him at Doncaster last time, which was a nice novice to be fair, that brought a decent level of form here today. We thought the step up to the 10 furlongs would suit him. I think 10 is probably a nice trip for him at the moment and I see no reason to step up at the moment. We felt the 10 furlongs was going to see improvement, which is needed at a meeting like this, and he has duly obliged.

“I would probably say he is a handicapping type at the moment and we will see what the handicapper does. We will see where he lines up with Meydan. It is that time of year, from July onwards, where we start to put our team together for Meydan. Whether he is a horse that fits that bill we will take that into account. I wouldn’t say it (Goodwood) is out of the question, but we haven’t got any real firm plans after this.”

Williams policy pays off

Ian Williams saw his mob handed approach on the bet365 Trophy pay off in handsome style after Oneforthegutter went one better than in the race than 12 months ago.

The Alvechurch handler was well represented in the £100,000 contest with three of the 13 runner field hailing from his yard, including 11/4 favourite Dancing In Paris. However, it was to be his lesser fancied stablemates that were to steal the show with last month’s Northumberland Plate runner-up only finishing eighth having set the early pace.

As the field bunched on down towards the concluding stages of the one mile six furlong prize plenty still held chances. However, none seemed to be going better than Oneforthegutter, who was still tanking along in the hands of Silvestre de Sousa with a wall of horses stacked in front of him.

Once switched out by the three-time champion jockey the 12/1 chance made a telling run down the centre of the course before getting the better of Endless Victory by half a length with his stablemate, Real Dream, a further two and a half lengths back in third.

Williams said: “My honest assessment was Dancing In Paris was thrown in if he could reproduce his performance at Newcastle. Unfortunately, he was quite keen on the way to the start and he jumped and had no cover. He has ended up setting up for my other two horses that sat in behind him. I was actually feeling a little aggrieved about Dancing In Paris being in front as when it is your first chance in the race you are looking at that.

“When he is not running as well as you want to you are a little bit disappointed, but the other two horses came into the race because there was such a strong pace so we have to be thankful of Dancing In Paris, but for all the wrong reasons. Oneforthegutter is an out-and-out stayer and once Silvestre switched him out he picked up well. He was second in the race last year so it is good to go one better.

“I thought he was not particularly well handicapped coming into this so he is not going to be well handicapped now. We may look for something in France and travel with him, but I didn’t expect to have this question to answer.”

Reward at last for Leadman

Leadman finally gained his reward for a string of consistent efforts with a long overdue second success in the Dubai Racing Club Handicap to leave his connections dreaming of even better things to come.

Having registered just the sole victory from seven starts for Andrew Balding the former Juddmonte-owned gelding made it third time lucky for his new connections Thoroughbred British Racing when striking gold in the seven furlong affair.

Buried amongst runners by Rossa Ryan for much of the race the 12/1 chance forged on in the closing strides before going on to defeat the hat-trick seeking Up The Pace by half-a-length.

Steve Barker, of Thoroughbred British Racing, said: “Rossa gave him the right ride. We found now the key to him is to tuck him in and come as late as possible as he always finds. He ran okay on the Rowley Mile. We do believe though tucking him and coming through beaten horses has won him the race today. That is what Rossa said so I will stick with that.

“He might go for a mile, but I think that stiff seven furlong works. He is rated 83, but he will probably go up a few pounds there. He has never been out of the first four and he is lightly raced. He had a few injuries previously, but touchwood we have everything right now. I think there will be a heritage handicap come our way, but I don’t know which one. I don’t think he will be rated high enough for the Clipper at York, but we will see.”

Keady proud of team as Spirit wins

Michael Keady has plenty of fond childhood memories of the July Course, but now he can boast training a winner at the track in his own name after Emperor Spirit defied a 314-day absence to land the debenhams.com Handicap.

Making his first start since leaving the yard of Robert Cowell-the gelded son of Holy Roman Emperor showed no signs of rustiness on his stable debut when prevailing by three quarters of a length.

Keady said of the 17/2 winner: “I used to come up here as a kid and that is a dream start. I’m proud of my whole team for this result. He has a very good record fresh this horse. He arrived with a few issues that we had to iron out.

"He is a very freegoing horse. My head lad has done a fantastic job with him and we got him a special bridle which has just allowed him to relax a bit more in his work. I was really pleased two furlongs into the race just how smoothly he was racing as he wasn’t over racing like he has in the past.

“I think he is a horse that will probably operate around the 90 mark. I think he is a horse for those Saturday handicaps on fast ground through the summer. There is also the Racing League and he loves places like Ascot.

“Hopefully we can get him up to that 90 mark and hopefully during the winter get him out to the Middle East.”

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