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| Coventry Stakes 2010 |
Strong Suit Continues Great Day for Hannon
15/06/10
1 Strong Suit 15/8F
2 Elzaam 3/1
3 Roayh 22/1
Some 35 minutes after last year’s Coventry Stakes winner Canford Cliffs led home a 1-2 for the Richard Hannon team in the St James’s Palace Stakes, his stablemate Strong Suit captured the 2010 renewal of the juvenile contest.
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“I don’t know what was going on there, maybe I’ll wait until tomorrow until I watch it again!” said Hannon. “But he’s a very good horse. His time was a second faster than the Listed race when he won at Newbury on his first run.
“There’s no doubt he’s the best two-year-old we’ve got - it’s just the way he works, the way he travels and his attitude is a different class.
“It’s been a great day and if you go home from here with one winner then you’re happy. It was always going to be one of those days and we’ve got one more to go then I’ll be glad when it’s over.”
Hughes added: “I had a nightmare and it would have been my fault if he’d got beat today. He only ran once before and won so easily at Newbury that he didn’t learn a lot. Today he got bumped early on, but that was just race riding, and then I went to go round one in front and he went straight into the back of another. I don’t know how he got going after that and he wouldn’t have come off the bridle otherwise.
“Canford Cliffs is more electric than this horse, he knew what to do from day one. This horse has been more of a slow learner. He was green and raw through the race and it’s amazing he got up and won.
“It was always going to be either a great day or terrible and it’s been great. We nearly won the first as well with Paco Boy but that’s racing.
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Position |
Horse Trainer |
Jockey Weight |
Starting Price Beaten Distance |
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1 |
Strong Suit R Hannon |
R Hughes 9st 1lbs |
15 - 8 Winner |
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2 |
Elzaam M A Jarvis |
R Hills 9st 1lbs |
3 - 1 Nose |
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3 |
Roayh S bin Suroor |
L Dettori 9st 1lbs |
22 - 1 2 1/2 lengths |
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4 |
Samuel Morse A P O'Brien |
R L Moore 9st 1lbs |
7 - 1 2 1/4 lengths |
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5 |
Klammer Jane Chapple-Hyam |
S W Kelly 9st 1lbs |
20 - 1 1 length |
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6 |
Zoffany A P O'Brien |
J Murtagh 9st 1lbs |
9 - 2 2 1/2 lengths |
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7 |
Galtymore Lad M R Channon |
A Culhane 9st 1lbs |
20 - 1 3/4 length |
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8 |
Mullins Way F Brennan |
G Gibbons 9st 1lbs |
100 - 1 1/2 length |
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9 |
Amwell Pinot A Bailey |
K Fallon 9st 1lbs |
50 - 1 1 1/4 length |
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10 |
Chiswick Bey R A Fahey |
P Hanagan 9st 1lbs |
50 - 1 Neck |
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11 |
Move In Time B Smart |
T Eaves 9st 1lbs |
66 - 1 1 1/4 length |
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12 |
Planet Waves C E Brittain |
S Sanders 9st 1lbs |
40 - 1 3 3/4 lengths |
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13 |
Sheer Courage Herman Brown |
J Fortune 9st 1lbs |
14 - 1 8 lengths |
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NonRunner |
High Award T Stack |
Non Runner 9st 1lbs |
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NonRunner |
Irish Field M Delcher Sanchez |
Non Runner 9st 1lbs |
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ELZAAM LOSES COVENTRY ON THE LINE IN A SCINTILLATING FINISH
An understandable air of despondency surrounded the connections of the highly talented Elzaam, who led the Coventry field from a long way out and lost the race by a nose on the line to Strong Suit.
Michael Jarvis, who trains the Australian-bred powerfully-built colt for Sheikh Hamdan, said ruefully: “He ran a great race. We were perhaps in front a little earlier than we wanted to be.”
He added: “He’s a quick horse, I wouldn’t see any reason to step him up from six (furlongs).”
The Godolphin team’s Roayh, trained by Saeed bin Suroor, took third, finishing two and a half lengths behind Elzaam.
Jockey Frankie Dettori commented: “It was a very good run - he has improved with every outing. Six furlongs suits him well and he’s going the right way.”
