Ryan Moore’s 2016 campaign was somewhat derailed by injury, but he signalled his intent to once again make a real mark in 2017 with a treble on the opening day of the turf season at Doncaster.
Tupi, trained by Richard Hannon, got the ball rolling with a clear-cut success in the Betway Cammidge Trophy and could now head to York next month.
Moore then teamed up with Sir Michael Stoute on Ballet Concerto, who defied top weight in the consolation race for the Lincoln, the Betway Spring Mile.
The jockey later produced the Hannon-trained Kool Kompany fast and late to grab the Listed Betway Doncaster Mile from Stormy Antarctic.
Hannon said of the latter: “The Group Two at Sandown (bet365 Mile) looks the next obvious race as we’ll build backwards from the Queen Anne (Royal Ascot) and the Lockinge, too.”
While Moore and Hannon, who also hit the mark with Boycie, in the Betway Apprentice Handicap, dominated the undercard, they had to settle for second best in the Betway Lincoln.
Oh This Is Us came agonisingly close for the duo, but eventually succumbed by just a neck to Bravery, who was fourth in last season’ s Irish 2000 Guineas when trained by Aidan O’Brien.
Defeat for Oh This Us had bookmakers breathing a huge sigh of relief, as the Moore four-timer would have come at odds of 2,591-1.
Now in the care of David O’Meara, the four-year-old Bravery benefited from an inspired Danny Tudhope ride as the jockey made the bold move of switching from his high draw of 20 to go right across to the favoured far side.
O’Meara said: “I thought it was a fantastic ride. After the Spring Mile, Danny said he was going to bite the bullet and take him over to the far side.
“His owner isn’t here so I’ll have a chat with him before mentioning targets, hopefully we can go back up in class.
“At £44,000, he looks a good buy.”
Absolute Blast gave up-and-coming trainer Archie Watson a notable success when the mare claimed Listed honours in the Betfred Mobile Magnolia Stakes at Kempton.
The Upper Lambourn handler has grand plans, saying: “All being well, we will go to the Easter Classic at Lingfield on Good Friday.
“There is also the Princess Elizabeth at Epsom and a couple of races in Ireland.
“But the way she has been running on these tight all-weather tracks over the winter, if she takes to the turf in the same way I would like to think she could be filly for North America in the autumn.”
Big Country looks to have a bright future on the Flat, but trainer Mick Appleby hopes he could even become his first Cheltenham Festival runner following an impressive success in the Betfred-sponsored Rosebery Handicap.
Frankel is set to have his first Classic runners as a sire this year and Dream Castle staked a decent claim to be in that number when making an emphatic winning debut at Doncaster on Sunday.
The Godolphin-owned colt, trained by Saeed bin Suroor, was handed quotes of 20-1 for the Qipco 2000 Guineas with Sky Bet and Betfair after he opened his account in highly-promising style in division two of the Purple Vouchers Maiden Stakes as part of a treble for connections.
Dream Castle was expected to deliver as he was sent off the 8-13 favourite and he put in some exciting work in the closing stages as he went on to score by three and a half lengths from To Dibba.
Jockey Oisin Murphy does not think he would be out of place in the Classic line-up.
“He has to be quite decent. What does it take to be a Guineas horse? How many run in the Guineas, 20-odd? Would there be 20 of him in the country?” he said.
Godolphin and Bin Suroor took division one with Benbatl, who earned a quote of 25-1 for the Investec Derby after blasting to victory on his debut by seven lengths in the hands of Josephine Gordon.
Bin Battuta, who holds entries in the Guineas and Derby, completed the Godolphin/Bin Suroor trio in the Yorkshire Wildlife Park Handicap in the hands of champion jockey Jim Crowley.
Paul Nicholls warmed up for what promises to be a pivotal week in the trainers’ championship with a double at Ascot completed by the victory of San Benedeto in the feature Ascot United FC Novices’ Handicap Chase.
The 10-times champion made significant inroads into the advantage held by table-topping Nicky Henderson after the six-year-old pocketed the £29,403 first prize by seven lengths, to reduce the gap between the pair to less than £100,000.
With both trainers set to be well represented at the Randox Health Grand National Festival which starts at Aintree on Thursday, BetVictor make Henderson 1-2 favourite to capture the title and Nicholls 6-4.
Nicholls said: “It is not just a big week, but a big month. It is not just about Aintree there is the two days at Cheltenham, Ayr, Perth and Sandown.
“Next week is pivotal for me, as I’ve not got too many Grade One horses. This time next week I don’t want to be more than £200,000 behind.”
On the winner, he added: “He will definitely run again this season. He might end up in the Celebration Chase at Sandown.
“We might enter him in the Grade One novice chase at Aintree on Saturday. Sam (Twiston-Davies) said make sure he has an entry on Saturday as he has not done anything there.”
Talking of title races, Willie Mullins reduced some of the advantage held by Gordon Elliott in Ireland with a hat-trick of Grade Two victories at Fairyhouse through Ballycasey, Bleu Berry and Al Boum Photo.
The card also saw Barry Geraghty record a winner on his return from injury through Close Shave for Jessica Harrington, who had an across-the-card treble on the afternoon.
