York Saturday review and free video replays
Earth too good for Melrose rivals
9/2 joint-favourite Middle Earth ran out an authoritative winner of the Sky Bet Melrose Handicap.
Oisin Murphy's charge won the race with a telling turn of foot two furlongs out which carried him to the front - and there he stayed.
Denmark (10/1) rallied under Ryan Moore but was never getting to the winner who was having only the fourth start of his career.
The son of Roaring Lion was a length-and-three-quarters clear at the line with Fox Journey (11/1) and Lordship (9/2) filling the minor placings.
This victory guarantees Middle Earth a place in next year's Sky Bet Ebor.
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"Sheikh Fahad always had a very high opinion of this horse, he was highly-rated as a foal and a yearling, that's why we held onto him, and I'm delighted he's coming good now," the winning rider told ITV Racing.
"He's bred to be a good horse and I really hope he'll go on into better races than this. The Melrose is obviously one of the hardest handicaps to win. I won it on Coltrane in the past and I hope that's the sort of level of horse we're dealing with here."
“He’s a grand horse. He’s a big boy so he’s taken his time, but he’s done nothing but improve as a three-year-old,” said John Gosden. “After he won a few people were trying to buy him but luckily Sheikh Fahad and David (Redvers, racing manager) thought they’d give him more of a chance. He’s won a Melrose well, the St Leger closed before he won so I think from that point of view he will be considered for supplementing.
“He’s a progressive horse, that’s the point. if you’d have asked me in May is he a Leger horse, I’d have said no. It (Doncaster) is a big open track, you need experience more on a tight, turning track but it’s a huge, galloping track. There’s usually no hard luck stories on that home straight, just like here.”
Middle Earth is 25/1 with the sponsors for the 2024 Sky Bet Ebor and 14/1 for the Betfred St Leger with Paddy Power and Betfair.
Dead-heat drama in Constantine
Summerghand (11/2 favourite), who lost the Great St Wilfrid by a short-head last weekend, dead-heated with Albasheer (7/1) in the Sky Bet Constantine Handicap.
David O’Meara’s Summerghand looked set to following up last year’s win in the same race until Archie Watson’s Albasheer came flying out of the pack under Hollie Doyle.
Danny Tudhope was on Summerghand and said: “Hollie was flying towards the end and I hit the front soon enough on him, so I’ll take a dead-heat any day.”
Doyle said: “We’ll take that but it’s just this lad’s luck as he’s been a bit frustrating. We know how good he is on his day, but things just haven’t fallen right for him. I thought things just hadn’t fallen right again but thankfully it’s a dead-heat.”
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Roses glory for Inquisitively
Inquisitively struck on her his first start for Kevin Philippart de Foy when taking the Julia Graves Roses Stakes.
The two-year-old was previously trained by Ollie Sangster but changed hands earlier in the term after a promising third-placed finish behind leading juvenile sprinter Big Evs in the Windsor Castle at Royal Ascot.
Now running in the silks of Wee Sean Gan, the bay started at 6/1 for the Listed event but blazed to a comprehensive victory under William Buick as he came home two lengths ahead of 9/4 favourite Purosangue.
Hong Kong is the base of the horse’s new owners and he looks set to head there at the conclusion of his two-year-old campaign, but there will be more racing in the west before he makes that move.
“I am delighted with him, he showed good form at Ascot in the Windsor Castle,” Philippart de Foy said. “He has got loads of speed and on quick ground I thought if he got the rail he’d be very difficult to pass. He’s a talented horse and I’m thrilled with him. His owners are based in Hong Kong so it is likely he will go there for his three-year-old career, but before then he could go to Doncaster, France and maybe even America.”
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Buick went on to complete a double when Astro King claimed a deserved win in the closing Sky Bet Finale Handicap
Winning trainer Daniel Kubler said: “That was fantastic, he did deserve it and he’s done it well today. It all seemed so straightforward.”
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