Balmoral Handicap (sponsored By Qipco) |
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| (British Champions Series) Handicap, Ascot 16:30 £250,000 added, 3yo plus, 1m, Class 2  |
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| Saturday 21st October 2017 | |
1 Lord Glitters 3/1F
2
GM Hopkins 20/1
3 Dark Red 25/1
4 Accidental Agent 12/1
20 ran Distances: nk, 1¼l, ¾l
Time: 1m 45.91s (slow by 7.31s)
Lord Glitters wins with a hugely impressive performance, last to first!
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Four-year-old Lord Glitters, trained by David O'Meara and ridden by Danny Tudhope, was sent off the well-backed 3/1 favourite and won by a neck.
"It was a little bit nerve-racking to watch," said O'Meara. "He got in all sorts of trouble - no fault of Danny's - and didn't get out until late on. We felt we needed to be far side and he had to pull out near side, but the horse has got an amazing turn of foot.
"It's why we bought him out of France - the idea was to run him in the race a fortnight ago, the Challenge Cup [at Ascot on October 7, where he finished second] and then come to this race. We've hit the woodwork there and won this - it's been great."
Asked if Lord Glitters could be a Group horse in the future, O'Meara replied: "We are hoping that is the case. We recently retired Mondialiste, owned by Geoff [Turnbull] as well, and we bought him to fill his boots and keep Geoff's colours in these good races. It's early days. It's only the 10th or 11th run of his life, but he's obviously very talented.
"Jason Kelly and I went to France and bought him - we gave 270,000 euros for him, which is enough, but compare that to what a lot of yearlings cost - it's good value really, and he's won a race on Champions Day. We're really happy."
Despite meeting trouble in running, the imposing grey four-year-old son of Whipper stayed on powerfully to snatch victory by a neck, denying GM Hopkins (20/1) and trainer John Gosden a treble on the day.
Ed Dunlop's Dark Red (25/1) was a length and a quarter behind in third, with a further three-quarters of a length back to Eve Johnson Houghton's Accidental Agent (12/1) in fourth.
The John Gosden-trained GM Hopkins gave connections plenty to shout about in defeat.
The six-year-old son of Dubawi, a 20/1 chance, will now head to the Tattersalls Sales for owner Robin Geffen.
"He's run an absolute blinder," said trainer Gosden. "He's a dear, dear horse and we love him to bits. He goes on any going and he's been in the grip of the handicapper, but he almost got the better of him [the handicapper] today. What a wonderful horse."
GM Hopkins and jockey Robert Havlin also finished second in the 2015 running of this mile handicap.
"He's given me a great ride, he's such an honest horse," said Havlin. "He's been second in this race twice now and he was five pounds higher last time [when 15th of the 19 runners] but he was giving two pounds to the winner today and it told towards the end of the race."
Balmoral Handicap (sponsored By Qipco)
£250,000 added, 3yo plus, 1m, Class 2
20 ran
Going: Soft
| Pos | Dr | D | Horse SP | Jockey Weight | Trainer | Age |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | (3) | Lord Glitters (FR) 3/1f | D Tudhope 9-3 |
D O'Meara | 4 | |
| 2nd | (18) | nk | Gm Hopkins 20/1 | R Havlin 9-5 |
J H M Gosden | 6 |
| 3rd | (17) | 1¼ | Dark Red (IRE) (ex6) 25/1 | F Norton 9-3 |
E A L Dunlop | 5 |
| 4th | (15) | ¾ | Accidental Agent (ex6) 12/1 | Charles Bishop 9-8 |
Eve Johnson Houghton | 3 |
| 5th | (23) | s.h | Gabrial (IRE) 28/1 | J P Spencer 9-6 |
R A Fahey | 8 |
| 6th | (14) | 1¼ | White Lake 33/1 | Jack Mitchell 9-2 |
R Varian | 5 |
| 7th | (11) | hd | Oh This Is Us (IRE) 25/1 | R L Moore 9-8 |
R Hannon | 4 |
| 8th | (5) | 1¼ | Firmament 33/1 | James Doyle 9-10 |
D O'Meara | 5 |
| 9th | (4) | nk | Greenside 16/1 | Harry Bentley 8-13 |
H Candy | 6 |
| 10th | (6) | ¾ | Speculative Bid (IRE) 8/1 | Jim Crowley 9-9 |
D R C Elsworth | 6 |
| 11th | (16) | 2 | Zabeel Prince (IRE) (ex6) 4/1 | Andrea Atzeni 9-3 |
R Varian | 4 |
| 12th | (7) | ½ | Master The World (IRE) 28/1 | Joshua Bryan (5) 9-9 |
D R C Elsworth | 6 |
| 13th | (20) | nk | Eddystone Rock (IRE) 33/1 | Josephine Gordon 9-2 |
J R Best | 5 |
| 14th | (19) | 1 | Qassem (IRE) 16/1 | L Dettori 9-0 |
H Palmer | 4 |
| 15th | (8) | 1½ | Hors De Combat 50/1 | T P Queally | D J Coakley | 6 |
| 16th | (2) | hd | George William (ex6) 25/1 | Hollie Doyle (3) 9-9 |
R Hannon | 4 |
| 17th | (1) | 1½ | Linguistic (IRE) 12/1 | W Buick 9-4 |
J H M Gosden | 4 |
| 18th | (21) | 10 | Brigliadoro (IRE) (ex6) 33/1 | David Probert 9-1 |
P J McBride | 6 |
| 19th | (10) | 1¾ | Withernsea (IRE) 25/1 | P Hanagan 9-0 |
R A Fahey | 6 |
| 20th | (12) | 7 | The Grape Escape (IRE) (ex6) 13/2 | S M Levey 9-1 |
R Hannon | 3 |
