Sandown latest: Palace Pier all class in bet365 Mile; Ryan Moore in horror fall as Naamoos wins Esher Cup

In a race billed as a match between Palace Pier (4/11 fav) and recent Lingfield victor Khuzaam, the big clash never materialised as John and Thady Gosden's dual Group One hero always had matters under control, booking his ticket for next month's Lockinge Stakes at Newbury with consummate ease.

It was Khuzaam who cut out the early running, though Palace Pier always had him in his sights and the race was over when Frankie Dettori asked his mount to stretch just after passing the two-furlong marker.

With Khuzaam now weakening, it was left to the veteran Bless Him to do the chasing, but he was no match for Palace Pier who scampered further and further clear in the closing stages and had eight lengths to spare at the line.

On the back of his victory, Paddy Power make Palace Pier their 10-11 favourite from 13-8 for the Lockinge.

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John Gosden said: “It was a good performance and I’m very clear he was at 80%, but luckily nobody put it up to him today. He enjoys this track – he won as a two year old here and Frankie (Dettori) was very happy with him.

“He was having a very good blow afterwards but this has saved me going up and down the all-weather gallops at home hundreds of times, so in terms of going to the Lockinge next this is the right place. He’s a lovely horse and hopefully we can go to the Lockinge and then Royal Ascot.

“It wasn’t his fault at Ascot (when third on Champions Day) – he pulled a shoe off going to the gate and it was waterlogged and very heavy ground so it wasn’t his running.

“The heavy ground at Deauville was slightly different – it was slightly mushy just-rained-on Deauville ground – but I think trying to run on that at Ascot without a shoe didn’t help him very much.

“We’ll take it as we go, but it was nice to come here and the race has worked out well for him. He’ll go further in time when we want to, but for the time being we’ll concentrate on this. He was a top miler last year and I’ll concentrate on those right now.

“The Eclipse is a possibility but it’s very close to Royal Ascot. It’s always tight for a horse if they’ve had a hard-ish race, but we’ll put him in and take a look.”

Alenquer springs Classic Trial surprise

Alenquer (25/1) displayed guts and determination in equal measure to land the bet365 Classic Trial for trainer William Haggas and jockey Tom Marquand.

Having won one of his two starts as a two-year-old, the 25/1 chance defied market expectations to make a successful reappearance in game fashion, repelling Godolphin pair Adayar and Yibir.

Alenquer and Yibir had the race to themselves for much of the 1m2f contest, Yibir leading the way until the son Alderflug got the better of that argument, before Adayar then made sustained late headway down the centre of the track and threatened to spoil Marquand's welcome home party following his recent spell in Australia.

However, Alenquer stuck his neck out willingly to prevail by a half a length with Yibir himself running with plenty of credit in third. Lone Eagle was fourth.

3.35 Sandown

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1st Alenquer 25/1
2nd Adayar 8/1
3rd Yibir 4/1

Winning Trainer: W Haggas | Winning Jockey: T Marquand

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William Haggas, speaking away from the track, said: “I thought he did it well, but I think it paid to be handy. I thought the second did well to finish where he did considering where he came from. He had been working nicely with some older horses and I thought he was ready to run.

“I was a bit surprised by the price he was but it was on different ground to what he ran on last season as he ran on soft both times, but he seemed to enjoy it out there.

“He hit the line well and I think he will be seen to better effect over a mile and a half. It is terrific that Tom had a winner on his first ride back and I’m thrilled to bits for him.

“All options are open. He could be supplemented for The Derby but he is also in the German Derby. We will just re-group and see how he is as I’m not quite sure where he will go yet.”

Tom Marquand said: “It’s a great feeling knowing you can come back and jump aboard a horse like this, who showed much of what you would hope to see from a Derby hope.

“He had form in the soft and there was a bit of juice in the ground today which helped him.

“He looks like a horse that will have no trouble getting further as he stays this stiff 10 furlongs well and was wandering about in front.

“It was nice to see a little bit of improvement from him in a race that will have tightened and sharpened him up.”

3.00 Sandown

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1st Palace Pier 4/11 fav
2nd Bless Him 28/1

Winning Trainer: J & T Gosden | Winning Jockey: F Dettori

Drama in Esher Cup as Naamoos wins

Naamoos made it two wins from as many starts when winning the Esher Cup Handicap after jockey Ryan Moore suffered a crushing fall in the closing stages.

The Mark Johnston-trained 11/2 winner — who arrived here on the back of a similarly brave performance in the Royal Mile at Musselburgh — was given a canny ride by Ben Curtis and the pair dictated matters from the front throughout before coming home in isolation.

That hadn't appeared likely when Rifleman began to throw down a strong challenge with a furlong to run but just as he and Naamoos began to lock horns, the former jinked badly left, throwing Moore out of the side door and sending him hurtling to the ground.

Thankfully, Moore was soon on his feet and appeared unscathed, as Buxted Too and Without Revenge eventually picked up the pieces to claim a share of the place money.

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Winning trainer Mark Johnston said afterwards: “It was a great performance. We weren’t absolutely sure with him but he has gone to Musselburgh as well this season and won well.

“Last season we thought he was a good horse, then we had that disastrous run at Pontefract in the soft ground.”

Referring to Moore’s unseating, Johnston went on: “It was unfortunate what happened to Ryan but it looked like we seemed to have him covered at that point anyway. It was a great performance and I’m delighted with it.

“He is one of these middle of the road horses who we thought was stuck (between handicaps and stakes races) but hopefully he is not stuck anymore. We will be looking at Listed races now.”

John Gosden, trainer of Rifleman, revealed that Ryan Moore was not injured following his fall and said: “The horse is fine, but most importantly, the jockey is as well.”

Referring to Rifleman, Gosden added: “He has never done anything wrong in his life but he decided to do it there. I’ve no idea what happened.

“I don’t know whether he saw something. It was strange the horse suddenly ducked and Ryan said ‘suddenly I had no horse’. He rolled like a good jump jockey.

“That is strange — I don’t bring racehorses to the track to do that. It was as much of a surprise to us as it was to you.”

1.50 Sandown

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1st Naamoos 11/2
2nd Buxted Too 40/1
3rd Without Revenge 22/1

Winning Trainer: M Johnston | Winning Jockey: B Curtis

Waldkonig takes out Gordon Richards Stakes

Waldkonig took another step up the ladder when running out a workmanlike winner of the Gordon Richard Stakes for John and Thady Gosden.

The four-year-old son of Kingman was sent off a well-backed 6/4 favourite on the back of smooth reappearance success at Pontefract and did very little wrong here, taking up the running with a couple of furlongs to run and finding plenty in the closing stages to hold off the late challenge of Desert Encounter by a length and a quarter.

Having initially been rushed up to contest the early running, Waldkonig was then dropped in behind pacesetter Extra Elusive by jockey Frankie Dettori as the leader set some modest fractions from an uncontested lead.

Well positioned throughout, therefore, Waldkonig could be seen travelling supremely well as the runners made their way for home, though the winner didn't immediately put the race to bed once given the office by Dettori and looked momentarily in danger when Desert Encounter came out of the pack with his customary late run.

To his credit, Waldkonig kept finding for pressure and was comfortably on top at the line, with Extra Elusive hanging on for third. Highest Ground was a major disappointment back in sixth.

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John Gosden said: “He won well at Wolverhampton as a young horse, then in a delayed start to last season he ran third behind Mishriff. People were disappointed but I don’t think that was a bad run as that horse won the Prix du Jockey Club after that.

"He then went to Haydock and he was beaten there but he came back and had a discharge and it turned out it he had a horribly infected tooth and a blocked sinus. He was very ill and luckily he came back and we got him to where we want him but the autumn had gone and the racing had gone so he has had a long period off.

“He has benefitted from that. He has strengthened up and done well. I couldn’t be more pleased with him. He went to Pontefract and won well on fast ground and he has won here on well watered ground.

"He is a versatile horse over a mile and a quarter and a mile and a half. The fact he missed most of last year might have benefited him. We could look at the Hardwicke at Royal Ascot with something else in between, maybe back here with a penalty for the Brigadier Gerard (Thursday 27th April).”

Jockey Frankie Dettori added: “We always thought he was going to be our Derby horse last year but he grew and got weak. John was brilliant to give him time to develop.

“It was the first time I have ridden him since last year. The horse has physically come on a lot. He gave me a real good feel and is a good horse in the making.

"His pedigree suggests a mile and a half is not beyond his reach. He is very easy to handle. We have the options. He has got fresh legs and I’m sure he will improve again.”

2.25 Sandown

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1st Waldkonig 6/4 fav
2nd Desert Encounter 40/1

Winning Trainer: J & T Gosden | Winning Jockey: F Dettori