Harry Davies registered back-to-back victories in the Ladbrokes Chester Cup as East India Dock made a brilliant winning return to the Flat.
Successful aboard Hugo Palmer’s Zoffee 12 months ago, Davies is now forming a blossoming relationship with Newmarket handler James Owen and delivered the Triumph Hurdle third to perfection in the prestigious £170,000 handicap.
It was Ryan Moore who set the fractions aboard Joseph O’Brien’s Leinster and when the leading jockey allowed his mount to stride on passing the five-furlong marker on the second circuit, the four-year-old appeared full of running.
The field swarmed rounding the home turn with George Scott’s progressive Caballo De Mar laying down a stern challenge and hitting the front a furlong out, but East India Dock was staying on with every stride as the 9-4 favourite turned Cheltenham Festival disappointment into Roodee delight.
Owen’s charge returned a length verdict over Caballo De Mar, with defending champion and Davies’ old favourite Zoffee an honourable third, and the winning trainer was delighted to see a plan come together for his owners.
Harry Davies guides East India Dock home at Chester
He said: “He travelled lovely and hit his flat spot like he usually does but he stayed on well.
“Tim and Mr [Bill] Gredley had this plan and it’s great that we have pulled it off. There are some big pots on the Flat and he’s a lovely dual-purpose horse now.
“To win the Chester Cup is fantastic, we’ve hit the crossbar a few times coming here, but it’s nice to have a winner here and we’ve won the big one.”
Davies told Sky Sports Racing: “I’m very lucky to get the rides in this race I have and every time I have ridden in it I don’t think I’ve had a bad ride.
“He got a good draw which always helps around here and he jumped good, I was able to hold my pitch and then he was gutsy. He stays well and had the perfect profile coming into the race.
“He loved that dead ground and while everything else was sort of half struggling, he just cruised on through – what a tough horse and I’m delighted for connections.
“He’s a strong traveller and when horses have run over hurdles they learn how to relax better and in a race like this where you have to really rev them to hold their pitch, if they can then relax and drop the bridle there is nothing better.
“James has been very supportive of me and the Gredley family have also been happy for me to ride their horses and I was delighted when I got the ride on this fella.”
The Foxes swoops for Huxley glory
The Foxes demonstrated his class with a decisive victory in the Ire-Incentive, It Pays To Buy Irish Huxley Stakes.
From his position in stall one, Oisín Murphy got the perfect run aboard the son of Churchill, always travelling smoothly and in the ideal spot to pounce at the business end of the Group Two event.
The champion jockey angled out the 13-8 favourite rounding the home turn and he had plenty of horse underneath him to gallop on to score by a length and three-quarters from Alice Haynes’ 40-1 outsider Cairo.
Andrew Balding’s The Foxes won the Huxley Stakes
It was the perfect way for the Andrew Balding-trained five-year-old to build on an opening run of the year in Qatar in February, with a host of big-race options now available.
Murphy told Sky Sports Racing: “He was superbly prepared by everyone at home as it wasn’t completely smooth sailing from Doha to here and Andrew is going to be delighted with that.
“He was push button and one of the easiest rides you will have around here. It’s all down to the work at home and he wasn’t always that easy to ride or have that gate speed, but it has come together over the last few starts and that was a joy to be a part of.
“Andrew was happy for me to do whatever and it is important to have big winners for owners King Power Racing. They invest a lot into the sport and it’s great to ride for them and have winners for them.
“Andrew will have a think about what he could run in at Royal Ascot and we also had a Group Two winner the other day in Bellum Justum and they kind of fit in the same category. They are both 10 or 12-furlong horses and one is four and one is five, so Andrew will have a think.”
The trainer’s wife Anna Lisa Balding added: “We’re absolutely delighted and you need a lot of luck as you always do around Chester. He had a good draw but we needed a good pilot and Oisín did a brilliant job.
“The horse has been in brilliant form at home and Maddy, one of our assistants, rides him every day. She loves him and has done a super job with him.
“He picked up £500,000 for going to Qatar and finishing second and he’s a very bonny horse who loves his job and really deserved that today.”
Two Tempting strikes for Portman
Two Tempting showed why he “never ceases to amaze” trainer Jonathan Portman, as the 9-4 favourite got punters off to a flying start in the CAA Stellar Earl Grosvenor Handicap.
The six-year-old had shown a liking to the Roodee in the past and proved a cut above the opposition in the opening seven-and-a-half-furlong handicap, cruising home for a much cosier success than the official three-quarters of a length would suggest in the hands of Rob Hornby.
Portman said: “We’re chuffed with that. We brought him in quite quickly from his break to run in a Lincoln trial and he did okay there and then he didn’t do badly in the Lincoln itself but we still just felt he was coming on race by race.
Al Wasl Storm
“We were happy with his fourth in the Newbury Spring Cup but I knew after that he was exactly where I wanted him to be and this race at Chester was the plan. It’s a shame it wasn’t a £100,000 race but there you go and he likes it around there and was helped by the draw.
“Rob knows the horse well and that was a great help and we’re thrilled with him. He’s been a remarkable horse for us and he never ceases to amaze me.”
Portman concedes Two Tempting may have to venture into deeper waters eventually but for now has his eye on a return to Epsom on Oaks Day for the same race he won 12 months ago.
He added: “I would think the handicapper will now have his say and it seems a long time since he was winning an apprentice race at Ascot, but we knew he was well today. It had just taken him three or four races to get where I wanted him.
“At some stage he might have to step outside of handicap company, but we were looking at the race on Oaks day we won last year. That is a 0-105 [handicap] and was going to be his next step. I will speak with the owners but Epsom is where we wanted to be.”
