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Brigadier Gerard Stakes |
Workforce Returns to Triumph in Brigadier Gerard Stakes
27/05/11
1 Workforce EvensF
2 Poet 16/1
3 Jan Vermeer 5/1
NR: Sri Putra
8 ran Distances: 1l, 11l, 1¾l
TIME 2m 9.97s (slow by 2.97s)
Last year's Derby and Arc hero Workforce made the perfect start to his four-year-old career with victory in the Piper Heidsieck Champagne Brigadier Gerard Stakes at Sandown.
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Racing on rain-softened ground, Ryan Moore was happy to sit off what looked a stiff pace set by the enterprisingly-ridden Poet, who was a long way clear of the pack at one stage.
Clive Cox's Poet still held an advantage two out and while Workforce soon picked him up when asked, with Moore using his stick just once, he had to battle fairly hard to finally get the better of the argument by a length at the line, the pair 11 lengths clear of Jan Vermeer in third.
Winning trainer Sir Michael Stoute said: "I was very pleased, he took a bit of getting fit because he has done so well physically. I don't know where he will go now, he has got multiple entries."
Teddy Grimthorpe, racing manager to successful owner Khalid Abdullah, said after the even-money success: "I think Michael has done a great job, he's been patient and picked the right time and place to do it, and you have to be happy with the way he has done it.
"He did very well over the winter physically, he didn't grow much but he bulked up and strengthened up. We are very happy with the way it has gone.
"We'll see how he comes out of this and sit down and discuss it. It is a fairly limited programme but a nice one. He kicked when Ryan wanted him to, he asked him just once and he picked up and did it like the class horse he is."
Moore, who declined to be drawn into comparisons with Aidan O'Brien's So You Think, said: "He was a bit sleepy in the stalls, he'd been in there a while, he was a bit sluggish then the race got a bit messy, we were going half a stride too slow in behind.
"I had to switch him off but he never felt like he was going to get beat at any stage. When he got there he just had a look around but I gave him a smack and he did his job. He's always felt like a horse with more to come, we've not asked a lot of him at home and we've not asked him a whole lot tonight."
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Position |
Horse Trainer |
Jockey Weight |
Starting Price Beaten Distance |
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1 |
Workforce Sir Michael Stoute |
R L Moore 9st 7lbs |
1 - 1 Winner |
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2 |
Poet C G Cox |
A Kirby 9st 0lbs |
16 - 1 1 length |
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3 |
Jan Vermeer A P O'Brien |
William Buick 9st 0lbs |
5 - 1 11 lengths |
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4 |
Cavalryman S bin Suroor |
L Dettori 9st 0lbs |
10 - 1 1 3/4 length |
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5 |
Afsare L M Cumani |
K Fallon 9st 0lbs |
12 - 1 1/2 length |
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6 |
Elusive Pimpernel J Dunlop |
E Ahern 9st 0lbs |
6 - 1 Short Head |
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7 |
Distant Memories T P Tate |
J P Spencer 9st 0lbs |
16 - 1 3 lengths |
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8 |
Black Spirit C G Cox |
Luke Morris 9st 0lbs |
16 - 1 1 length |
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Non Runner |
Sri Putra R Varian |
N Callan 9st 0lbs |
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