Yashin: Michael Bell eyeing Ascot Gold Cup glory with Sagaro Stakes winner on Royal Ascot Trials Day | Racing News

Michael Bell is eyeing a tilt at Gold Cup glory with Yashin after his new recruit denied veteran stayer Coltrane a record third victory in the Longines Sagaro Stakes at Ascot.

Successful in the last two renewals of the Group Three event, the Andrew Balding-trained Coltrane was a 4/6 favourite to complete the hat-trick and appeared perfectly positioned for much of the two-mile contest as he sat in the slipstream of Divine Comedy, who set a sedate pace in front.

Coltrane was nudged into the lead passing the two-furlong marker, but was soon challenged by 11/1 shot Yashin, who was a high-class operator for Jessica Harrington before changing hands for 80,000 guineas in October and looks a shrewd purchase judged on this one-length success under Callum Shepherd.

Bell said: “He’d been working well and galloped at Chelmsford the other day and we were very happy with him. He went to Ascot in very good form, so we were hopeful of a very good run.

“He’s been in very good form since we’ve had him, so we were hopeful he would be involved definitely.”

Bookmakers cut Yashin to around 8/1 from 33/1 for the Chester Cup on Friday week (May 9), but Bell – who won the 2017 Gold Cup with Big Orange – is leaning towards keeping his powder dry for Royal Ascot.

“I’ll talk to the owners. Chester would obviously be tempting with the penalty, as clearly he’s going to go up significantly more than 3lb, but my gut feeling is we’ll wait and maybe look at taking on Kyprios at the big meeting,” the Fitzroy House handler added.

“We didn’t enter him for the Gold Cup, but we discussed it beforehand and the winner of the Sagaro gets a free nomination. We said if we didn’t win the Sagaro, we didn’t want to run in the Gold Cup anyway and if he did win, we’d get the free nomination, so we put some thought into it and he could well go there.

“We’ve won the Gold Cup before and we’d like to win it again.”

Big Mojo back with a bang at Ascot

Big Mojo booked his ticket to Royal Ascot with a comeback victory in the eventmasters.co.uk Commonwealth Cup Trial – but which sprint he ultimately lines up in remains to be seen.

Mick Appleby’s colt mixed it with the best as a juvenile last season, emulating his illustrious stablemate Big Evs by winning the Molecomb Stakes at Goodwood before running with credit in the Gimcrack at York, the Flying Childers at Doncaster and at the Breeders’ Cup.

Racing over six furlongs for only a second time on his first start as a three-year-old, Big Mojo was a 4-1 shot under Tom Marquand and while he hung across the track after being produced with his challenge, he found plenty for pressure to score by half a length from Diablo Rojo.

Paddy Power trimmed the winner’s odds for the Commonwealth Cup to 14-1 from 25-1 and a return to the Berkshire circuit is firmly on the agenda – but a drop back to five furlongs for the King Charles III Stakes, in which Big Evs finished third against his elders last year, is a potential alternative.

“That (King Charles) would be more the likely way we’d go down, I would think. (But) he is in both races,” Appleby told Sky Sports Racing.

“It’s always a concern when you’ve got a decent two-year-old, whether they’ve trained on, but at home he looked like he had – he’s been working really well against some of the older horses.

“I’m really delighted with him.”

Marquand suggested he was in favour of a drop back to the minimum trip, saying: “He’s a very good horse, he showed that last year and I think it’s just changed him a little bit as a type as well – the second I even went to think about going this lad was up and away, which is something he didn’t do last year in quite the same manner.

“I thought that was a good performance, he’s done well to go and win and I feel like on a track like Ascot, where you’re going to get tempo and he doesn’t lack early speed or the ability to travel, over five (furlongs) he could be lethal here.

“On the right track I still think six furlongs is correct for him, but Ascot being Ascot, it (going back to five furlongs) is definitely a strong possibility.”

Sardinian Warrior puts Gosdens and Shoemark in Paradise

Sardinian Warrior looks set for an exciting summer after making a successful transition to the turf in the eventmasters.co.uk Paradise Stakes.

Named after his good friend Frankie Dettori by owner Marc Chan, 5/1 chance Sardinian Warrior finished second on his Kempton debut before completing a 2024 hat-trick on the Tapeta at Southwell.

The four-year-old faced a significant rise in class as he switched to the grass on his first appearance in almost six months but proved up to the task, moving with menace over Ascot’s straight mile before knuckling down to see off the challenge of 15/8 favourite Docklands by half a length.

“He’s a really talented horse, it was his first day on the grass today and it certainly eked out some more improvement,” winning jockey Kieran Shoemark told Sky Sports Racing.

“He’s got lots of ability, he was just about ready for today’s outing and I think he’ll come on plenty.

“I think he’s a miler. He was possibly getting a little bit tired, as Docklands was getting to me, but I think he’s a solid miler.”

Charlie Appleby’s Wise Approach made a winning start to his career in the Royal Ascot Two-Year-Old Trial EBF Conditions Stakes.

A one-million guineas yearling purchase for Godolphin, the Mehmas colt was a 16/5 joint-favourite for his competitive debut and finished strongly under William Buick to beat Leicester winner Super Soldier by half a length.

“That was perfect, it’s lovely ground and you would expect him to improve from that today,” said Buick.

“I’m very happy with him, it rode like a good two-year-old race, he has a great attitude and there’s plenty to build on.

“Whether he has another run before [Royal] Ascot, we’ll see, and whether he’ll go five furlongs again and then six at Ascot or goes six next time, we’ll see. I’m sure everybody will be very happy with what he did today and we can make plans going forwards.”