RACING:SOLE POWER made the most of a significant drop in class to secure a deserved first victory of the campaign in the Scarbrough Stakes at Doncaster yesterday.
Since running out a 100 to 1 winner of the 2010 Nunthorpe Stakes at York, the five-year-old has struck just once, landing the Temple Stakes at Haydock in May of last year. However, Eddie Lynam’s pride and joy has been campaigned almost exclusively at the very highest level and run some tremendous races in defeat.
He was back in Listed class on Town Moor after a slightly below-par effort in the Nunthorpe Stakes at York and despite the early-afternoon rain, Lynam expressed his surprise that his proven top-notch performer was allowed to go off at 5 to 2.
Johnny Murtagh was happy to give the bulk of his rivals plenty of rope, settling Sole Power towards the rear of the field. He was still a long way back heading towards the last of five furlongs, but did not panic, angled his mount towards the stands side and Sole Power quickly found top gear. The market-leader fairly flew in the closing stages to pass the post with a length and a half in hand over Jwala, with Excelette in third.
Lynam said: “I don’t think anyone could say he didn’t deserve that. Anyone who was brave enough to back a Group One horse in a Listed race at 11 to 4 has done very well! He came back from York (seventh in this year’s Nunthorpe) very buzzy for whatever reason. He got too much daylight that day and it didn’t do him any good. It’s a long time until the Abbaye and Hong Kong, so we wanted to get another run into him. Johnny said he was going to be very cool on him and he was.”
Asked whether he was always confident Sole Power would win, Lynam said: “No. I’m only a moderate trainer and I’d be a worse jockey! The horse has a very good turn of foot and all going well he will go for the Abbaye if the ground is right, and on to Hong Kong as Johnny thinks he will be perfect to race there. After that he’d probably go back to Dubai.”
Doncaster’s third running of the Clipper Logistics Leger Legends Classified Stakes was again won by a jockey worthy of the title as Mick Kinane and Patriotic held on in a tight finish. A field of 16 ex-jockeys, some better known than others, had gathered for the only charity race held in Britain under the Rules of Racing and the man who came home in front was perhaps the most accomplished of them all. Not that it was easy, as George Duffield and Elijah Pepper closed to within a nose of the Kinane-ridden 5 to 1 favourite.
Julie Krone made a bold bid to repeat last year’s victory by leading on Sunnyside Tom for most of the mile, but Kinane delivered the Chris Dwyer-trained Patriotic with a smooth run to lead with just over a furlong remaining.
He had to push hard to keep Duffield at bay. He was given a ban for using the whip under the permitted level, with the €375 fine given to the charities – the Injured Jockeys Fund’s building of a rehabilitation centre in Malton, and for the redevelopment of the Northern Racing College.
