'It's just a shame the other Clarets aren't doing as well'

It has been a good year for Burnley fan Alan Tattersall, whose team won promotion back to the Premier League and whose rejuvenated Vintage Clarets scored a fourth victory of 2023 in the £40,000 William Hill Catterick Dash.

His team are now struggling in their higher division and the owner feared his sprinter had also suffered another defeat as he passed the post neck and neck with Glorious Angel.

But the photo-finish gave Oisin Orr's mount, a £20,000 yearling who was third in the Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot as a two-year-old, the verdict by a short-head.

"I thought we'd just got beaten, so that's fantastic," Tattersall said. "I'm really pleased. That's four wins this year – it's just a shame the other Clarets aren't doing as well but never mind, you can't have everything.

"He was third in the Coventry Stakes then he went off a little but he came back and it's been great stuff this year. Hopefully there will be more to come next year.

"We paid £20,000 for him back in the day, he'd won £169,000 before today and he's done us very proud."

Orr added: "We got there plenty soon enough and in the last furlong he was only just doing enough, but I did think we got nailed on the line.

"We went a good gallop for the ground and in the last furlong and half, they were coming back to me. 

"He's a legend of a horse and he's been very consistent all year. It's great to get a win on him."

Ascot clue in opener

Where Catterick leads, Ascot follows. That is not always the case but it certainly was this time as racing began with a King Power horse trained by Tim Easterby overturning a Ralph Beckett favourite, just as happened in the Champions Sprint a few minutes later.

The 5-2 shot Bubbles Wonky played the role of Art Power here, quickening smartly to beat 4-6 chance Mercury Day by nearly four lengths under Sean Kirrane, who is himself a Group 1 sprint-winning jockey.

Sean Kirrane: double for Tim Easterby

"He obviously has a bit of talent," said the rider, who also took the 7f handicap on stablemate Quest For Fun.

"He travelled well and quickened nicely when I let him down. Conditions are very soft out there but they seem to be getting through it, it doesn't seem to be all that testing, although that's easily said being up the front end!"

Kirrane finished fourth on his Nunthorpe winner Live In The Dream in a Breeders' Cup prep race at Keeneland two Saturdays ago and recalled: "The horse needed the experience, we know he's got the speed to handle those early fractions and I'm looking forward to the Breeders' Cup."

Sanna stars with production of Hamlet 

Gianluca Sanna rode his fourth winner for John Quinn when landing the 6f novice event on Hamlet.

"He's been with me for two and a half to three months," the trainer said. "Gianluca has a very good pair of hands and is a good lad at home so it's nice to give him opportunities."

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