Unibet Golden Mile |
|
| Heritage Handicap 15:00 Goodwood £50,000 added, 3yo plus, 1m, Class 2  |
|
| Friday 31st July 2020 | |
1 Prompting 3/1F
2 Urban Icon 12/1
3
Afaak 25/1
14 ran NR: Montatham Distances: 1½l, ¾l, ½l
Time: 1m 36.91s (slow by 0.71s)
Hat-trick! Prompting makes it three in row with this biggest success of his career in the @UnibetRacing Golden Mile Handicap for Harry Bentley and David O'Meara #QatarGoodwoodFestival pic.twitter.com/CDwDXzNPwE
— Goodwood Racecourse (@Goodwood_Races) July 31, 2020
Prompting (David O'Meara/Harry Bentley) was the well-supported favourite and amply justified his position at the head of the market with a comfortable victory.
Travelling well behind the leaders, the four-year-old Bated Breath gelding took the lead entering the final furlong and without being asked any serious questions scored by a length and a half from top-weight Urban Icon (Richard Hannon/Pat Dobbs).
Harry Bentley said: "I was very happy with where I was positioned. From stall two, there was no point giving it away and trying to ride a bit more of a race off the pace, so I made a bit more use of him than he has done in his previous starts, and the pace was even enough; it certainly wasn't overly quick, so I was definitely in the right place.
"I was always travelling incredibly well behind Joe Fanning [on Vale Of Kent], and it was just a matter of waiting until something opened. Prompting is a big horse, so he can get out of a bit of trouble and he had an awful lot of running, but the King Power horse on my left [Zwayyan] opened up a little bit and that was my time to go. He has a very good turn of foot; he's obviously won over seven furlongs, and he quickened up nicely.
"He handled the track very well. He is a big horse and very well balanced. This was a step up in class for him but I was watching his replays this morning and thought he certainly deserved to go up to this sort of class, and perhaps beyond. He has a lot of class, and off that weight he was always going to have a great chance."
Golden Mile (Heritage Handicap)
£50,000 added, 3yo plus, 1m, Class 2
14 ran
Going: Good to Firm
1 (2) Prompting 4 8-4 3ex David O'Meara Harry Bentley 3/1F
2 (9) 1½ Urban Icon 4 9-10 Richard Hannon Pat Dobbs 12/1
3 (11) ¾ Afaak 6 9-4 Charles Hills Dane O'Neill 25/1
4 (8) ½ Willie John 5 9-1 Roger Varian Andrea Atzeni 9/1
5 (4) ½ Cliffs Of Capri 6 8-12 Jamie Osborne Dougie Costello 10/1
6 (6) ¾ Bless Him 6 9-6 David Simcock Tom Marquand 22/1
7 (3) 2¼ Vale Of Kent 5 9-9 Mark Johnston Joe Fanning 9/2
8 (1) ½ Almufti 4 8-6 Hugo Palmer David Egan 16/1
9 (7) 1¼ Sir Busker 4 9-8 William Knight Oisin Murphy 5/1
10 (14) 2 Blown By Wind 4 9-7 Mark Johnston P J McDonald 40/1
11 (10) nk Fox Premier 4 8-12 Andrew Balding Rob Hornby 66/1
12 (5) shd Cardsharp 5 9-2 Mark Johnston William Buick 12/1
13 (13) 1½ Baltic Baron 5 8-9 David O'Meara Jason Watson 33/1
14 (12) 6 Zwayyan 7 8-13 Andrew Balding Silvestre De Sousa 50/1
NR 6 (15) Montatham 4 9-5 William Haggas NON RUNNER
