Classy Lord honoured at Wolverhampton
Danetime Lord ran out an impressive five-length winner of the Stay At Wolverhampton Holiday Inn Handicap Stakes for Kevin Ryan and Neil Callan at Dunstall Park.
Settled just off the pace in the seven-furlong event, the three-year-old quickened up in fine style two from home to deny Walter Swinburn’s Cape Diamond and reward favourite backers at odds of 5-2.
“He’s in very good form at the minute,” said John Murray, who was representing Ryan.
“He was second at Musselburgh on heavy over five furlongs last month but he’ll be a better horse back on grass on good ground.
“We’ll have a bit of fun with him this summer hopefully as he’s getting better and better.”
Sir Bond (9-4f) looked the good thing of the day and his followers were not disappointed in the Enjoy Racing From The Zongalero Restaurant Handicap Stakes.
An unlucky second behind Lord Chamberlain at the course three days ago, Bryan Smart’s five-year-old was always travelling smoothly for Robert Winston.
The Pat Eddery-trained Perez put up a spirited fight in the final furlong, however, but could not collar the winner, who held on for a neck success.
“He only ran at Southwell 10 days ago behind a tartar and he’s due to go up in the weights for that so we decided to try and win a race quickly with him,” said winning owner Reg Bond.
“I was in South Africa playing golf when he got beat here three days ago and we all backed him so it was a bit of a shock to see him come out so quick.
“He was a good thing though as he’s due to go up four pounds.”
Callan, who was on board third-placed Bridgewater Boys, was banned for two days (April 24-25) for careless riding.
Undeterred (12-1) returned to winning ways for fledgling trainer Kahlil Burke in the wolverhampton-racecourse.co.uk Amateur Riders’ Claiming Stakes.
Formerly owned by Peter Savill and trained by David Nicholls, the 10-year-old was a class above his rivals and registered a one-and-a-half-length victory from Diktalex for 3lb claimer Matthew Smith.
It was a third winner of the season for Burke, but his first on the level.
“We’ve got 24 horses in full work now,” said Burke.
“This fellow was pretty useful on his day and all the lads that have ridden him at home thought he would stay the mile.
“This is his grade and he’s a 10-year-old now so he’s not going to improve; we only paid £4,500 (€6,500) though so he’ll pay his way.”
John Egan teamed up with Stan Moore to good effect to win the Name A Race To Enhance Your Brand Selling Stakes with 9-4 favourite Twinned.
It was the fourth time from only 11 runners that the combination have collected this season.
“He was a disappointing horse last year,” said Moore. “I think this is about his level.
“He travels well but as soon as you ride him he downs tools and he was lucky to hold on in the end.
“We were lucky that John was on him because he is a strong jockey.”
