Covey secures Silver Bowl success in style
Covey looked the proverbial Group horse in a handicap as he and Frankie Dettori led their rivals a merry dance in the £100,000 Betfred Silver Bowl at Haydock.
Narrowly beaten by Zoology on his debut at Southwell, John and Thady Gosden’s colt went one better at Newmarket next time before landing extremely short odds of 1-16 when doubling his tally at Newcastle.
Making his handicap debut from a perch of 90 on Merseyside, the son of Frankel again headed the betting as the 6-4 favourite and the result was never really in any doubt as he cut out most of the running and passed the post with just over three lengths in hand over Royal Cape.
Covey does not hold any big-race entries, but appears almost certain to be part of the Gosden squad for Royal Ascot next month.
Dettori, sporting the same Juddmonte colours he will wear aboard Covey’s stablemate Arrest in next weekend’s Betfred Derby at Epsom, said: “That was good and he’s going the right way.
“He was a difficult horse six months ago – he ran off the gallop with me in October! But he’s getting his act together and improving all the time.
“You always need a decent horse to win this kind of race, I guess the Britannia or the Jersey could be on his agenda for Ascot.”
Hollie Doyle came in for a winning spare ride aboard the Hugo Palmer-trained Solent Gateway (5-1) in the Betfred TV Hell Nook Handicap.
With intended jockey Neil Callan stuck on the M6, late substitute Doyle was at her power-packed best as her mount dug deep to repel 2-1 favourite Law Of The Sea by three-quarters of a length.
She said: “Neil got stuck in traffic unfortunately and I was probably the only one in the weighing room!
“I knew the horse quite well as I’ve ridden against him a few times and I just did what I was told.
“I got an easy lead, I cantered round in front and he was very push-button.”
In The Breeze came from the clouds to get trainer Mick Appleby off the cold list in the opening Betfred Supports Jack Berry House Florida Handicap.
The Rutland-based trainer had gone 81 runners and 43 days without a winner heading to Haydock and In The Breeze was a 9-2 shot to stop the rot in the hands of Ray Dawson.
The five-year-old was at the rear of the field for much of the 10-furlong contest, but charged home to get up in the dying strides and beat Swift Tuttle by a neck.
“We’ve been knocking on the door a bit, but we’ve had a very busy winter, so you expect to have a bit of a quiet time. It has been a bit longer than normal,” said Appleby.
“This horse is a bit highly strung, so we just have to try to keep a lid on him. I thought when they were crawling early on it wasn’t going to suit us as it turned into a sprint, but Ray gave him a great ride and he got the job done well.”
