Coral Winter Derby
Group 3, Lingfield 15:20 £100,000 added, 4yo plus, 1m 2f, Class 1
Saturday 27th February 2016

1 Grendisar 11/4
2 Maverick Wave 7/1
3 Furia Cruzada 8/1
NR: Battalion (IRE), Energia Davos (BRZ)
8 ran Distances: 1¼l, 1¼l, 1l
TIME 2m 1.05s (slow by 0.05s)

Grendisar lands the Coral Winter Derby in style under jockey Adam Kirby with Maverick Wave in second and Furia Cruzada third

The Marco Botti-trained six-year-old was runner-up to Tryster in the 2015 Coral Winter Derby but outclassed his rivals in the 10-furlong Polytrack Fast-Track Qualifier this time to gain a free and automatic place in the £200,000 Good Friday feature over the same course and distance on March 25.

Under a supremely confident Adam Kirby ride, 11/4 second favourite Grendisar ran on strongly from the rear of the eight runners to take the advantage inside the final furlong and power clear of his rivals to score by a length and a quarter in 2m 1.05s - just six one-hundreds of a second outside of the course record.

Race sponsor MansionBet makes Grendisar its 6/4 favourite to win the Coral Easter Classic, in which he was third behind Tryster last year.

Marco Botti, who is based in Newmarket, commented: "I am really delighted that everything went to plan with Grendisar today. I thought the pace was nice and even all of the way and Adam got the rights splits.

"Adam thinks that he is improving and he ran to the line today. This is one of the races that I wanted to win and we had the confidence coming in - to win the Winter Derby is fantastic.

"He loves the All-Weather and he loves Lingfield. He was a bit unlucky in this race last year and deserved the victory today. It's great for the owner (Mohamed Albousi Alghufli) as well - he's been lucky with this horse and Planteur.

"We always thought that Grendisar has tons of ability. He travels so well and has a turn of foot - he just needs the gap at the right time.

"I was happy today once he got up next to the horses because he kept going. Sometimes, he tends to idle a little bit in front but he ran to the line and Adam did a great job.

"If all goes to plan, the Coral Easter Classic will be his next target."

Adam Kirby said: "I enjoy riding Grendisar - he is a very fun horse to ride. I have been unlucky on him a couple of times and all credit to connections for keeping me on him.

"We were going a nice enough gallop and it is all about getting him into a rhythm and switched off.

"His turn of foot is second to none - it's about riding good horses who can do that with confidence.

"He is in great form and I think he might even be improving. He has got his confidence up and is in tip-top shape. The beauty of him is that he loves it round here whereas some of the others don't."

John Gosden was responsible for both the runner-up and the third, with long-time leader, Godolphin's Maverick Wave (7/1, Robert Tart), keeping on for second, a length and quarter in arrears. Multiple South American Group One scorer Furia Cruzada (8/1, Robert Havlin) stayed on to take third on her British debut, the same distance back in third.

The Newmarket trainer commented: "Furia Cruzada has come from off the pace, had to wait for a run but got a nice run through in the end. I couldn't more pleased with her. She had come up here into our cold weather and it was a very promising run.

"We don't know how to compare her form at all. She showed good form in Argentina, having come out of Chile, and running against fillies, but she was up against some old pros around this track.

"She has run a very solid race and doesn't have to run against colts every time - you have nice races like the Dahlia Stakes at the Guineas meeting.

"It's nice to come here, run a decent race and we know what we have to work with now. She will probably enjoy it when the weather warms up a bit as well.

"Maverick Wave won the Huxley Stakes at Chester last year and he is a grand old horse. It is nice to see him come back - he lost his form towards the end of last year. He had a rough trip to Chicago and didn't quite get over it but he seems to have come back in good order.

"I thought Grendisar put up his usual very professional performance, so it is solid form at this level around this track. We were taking on horses that know the course so well - they probably don't need jockeys!

"We don't have any plans for Maverick Wave right now. He has had two runs on the All-Weather this season and, technically, we could try and squeeze another one in to qualify him for Good Friday. It's a month away, so it's a possibility."

Godolphin's 7/4 favourite Festive Fare (Charlie Appleby/Andrea Atzeni) flattened out in the straight to finish fourth after holding every chance.

The Coral Winter Derby
£100,000 added, 4yo plus, 1m 2f, Class 1
8 ran
Surface: Polytrack