Royal Hunt Cup
QuinnBet
Heritage Handicap, Ascot 17:00
£175,000 added,
3yo plus,
1m, Class 2
Wednesday 18th June 2014

SureWIn

1 Field Of Dream 20/1
2 Chil the Kite 14/1
3 Steeler 33/1
4 Sea Shanty 14/1
5 Ayaar 16/1
NR: Farraaj (IRE), Stirring Ballad, Sweet Lightning
28 ran Distances: 1¼l, 1¼l, shd
TIME 1m 37.88s (fast by 0.92s)

Field Of Dream lands the Royal Hunt Cup for Jamie Osborne and Adam Kirby!

Field Of Dream
© Racehorse Photos
Field Of Dream

Jamie Osborne pulled off one of the training feats of the year, by producing Field Of Dream to win the £175,000 Royal Hunt Cup first time out this season at 20/1.

Field of Dream, a seven-year-old Oasis Dream gelding, last raced 263 days ago when 12th in the Cambridgeshire at Newmarket. He was sixth in the Royal Hunt Cup in 2013 and fourth in the mile charge down Ascot's straight mile the previous year.

Osborne, sending out his fifth Royal Ascot winner, said: "Field Of Dream has been leading Toast Of New York (the trainer's best horse) up the gallops.

"I expected this! No, I hoped for it. He has run in the last two Hunt Cups, having been to Dubai and having a few runs beforehand. Getting to June, we were nearly piecing him back together rather than training him for a race.

"So we decided to leave Dubai out this year and come fresh for this race in the hope that we could eke a bit more out of him. His work of late has been very good. For the first in his life, he has had a proper break.

"He has done his job of leading Toast Of New York the last couple of weeks. Toast Of New York leaves for Belmont Park a week on Friday. Toast needs good horses to work with.

"It is still a Hunt Cup and you need an unbelievable amount of luck - but it has worked. He has come here fresh, fit and well. His preparation had been great and we did not think the lack of a run was a negative - in fact the opposite, we thought it was a positive. He has got there too soon in fact! It is nice when it comes off but he has done his handicap mark now.

"If it had gone wrong, then there was the Bunbury Cup to go for. We might still go for the race but he has a 6lb penalty now.

"This horse's targets were also going to be in the second half of the year with a bit of nice ground. There is the very valuable new race here in October. So I saw no reason in getting him ready early and we waited and played the steady game. This is Field of Dream's place - stiff miles which are fast-run and competitive. He can weave his way through. Field Of Dream is a good old stick and maybe at the age of seven we have worked out how to train him.

"Adam (Kirby) is a genius - in my mind he is one of the best riders there has ever been. I just leave it to Adam - he has ridden the horse plenty of times. I can ready his body language - if he was happy I was happy.

"I only have 20 non two-year-olds so for us to make any sort of an impact is going to be very difficult. Luckily, I have some much better two-year-olds this year - 30 as against a dozen this time last year. So things are looking better for the future. A couple of nice horses make all the difference."

Royal Hunt Cup Heritage Handicap (Str)
£175,000 added, 3yo plus, 1m, Class 2
28 ran
Going: Good to firm


Horse
Trainer
Jockey
Weight
SP
Distance
1
Field Of Dream
J A Osborne
A Kirby
9st 1lbs
20 - 1
Winner
2
Chil The Kite
H Morrison
G Baker
9st 9lbs
14 - 1
1 1/4 length
3
Steeler
C Appleby
S De Sousa
9st 6lbs
33 - 1
1 1/4 length
4
Sea Shanty
R Hannon
R Hughes
8st 12lbs
14 - 1
Short Head
5
Ayaar
L M Cumani
L Dettori
8st 11lbs
16 - 1
1/2 length
6
Tales Of Grimm
R A Fahey
O Peslier
9st 2lbs
33 - 1
1/2 length
7
Belgian Bill
George Baker
P Cosgrave
9st 2lbs
8 - 1
1/2 length
8
Abseil
Sir Michael Stoute
James Doyle
8st 11lbs
7 - 2
3/4 length
9
Niceofyoutotellme
R M Beckett
Jim Crowley
8st 11lbs
25 - 1
Head
10
Regulation
M Halford
S Foley
9st 0lbs
100 - 1
Head
11
Pacific Heights
B Ellison
D Swift
9st 0lbs
33 - 1
Head
12
Artigiano
C Appleby
W Buick
9st 5lbs
25 - 1
Neck
13
Burano
B J Meehan
J Fortune
8st 13lbs
20 - 1
1 1/2 length
14
Ocean Tempest
J Ryan
Joe Doyle
10st 1lbs
33 - 1
1/2 length
15
Santefisio
K Dalgleish
T Eaves
9st 0lbs
33 - 1
1/2 length
16
Levitate
J J Quinn
M Harley
9st 0lbs
100 - 1
Head
17
Gabrial's Kaka
R A Fahey
J P Spencer
9st 3lbs
20 - 1
3/4 length
18
Red Avenger
E A L Dunlop
P Hanagan
8st 10lbs
20 - 1
Short Head
19
Loving Spirit
J A R Toller
Robert Tart
8st 13lbs
25 - 1
1 length
20
Queensberry Rules
W J Haggas
R L Moore
9st 0lbs
7 - 1
Nose
21
Starboard
D M Simcock
William Twiston-Davies
8st 11lbs
100 - 1
Neck
22
Fort Bastion
Mrs R Carr
J P Sullivan
8st 11lbs
33 - 1
3/4 length
23
Rebellious Guest
G G Margarson
K Fallon
9st 0lbs
50 - 1
1 1/4 length
24
Prince Of Johanne
T P Tate
G Lee
9st 1lbs
22 - 1
2 3/4 lengths
25
Here Comes When
A M Balding
Oisin Murphy
9st 6lbs
20 - 1
Short Head
26
Short Squeeze
H Palmer
P J Smullen
9st 6lbs
11 - 1
3/4 length
27
Ingleby Angel
D O'Meara
D Tudhope
8st 11lbs
33 - 1
1/2 length
28
Trumpet Major
R Hannon
P J Dobbs
9st 6lbs
25 - 1
Short Head
NR
Farraaj
R Varian
Non Runner
9st 7lbs
-
NR
Stirring Ballad
A M Balding
David Probert
8st 11lbs
-
NR
Sweet Lightning
D O'Meara
G Gibbons
8st 10lbs
-