Super Seb steers Danehurst to last-gasp success
Seb Sanders produced an ice-cool performance in the saddle to get hot favourite Danehurst home in the Listed Jardine Lloyd Thompson Henry Gee Fillies’ Stakes at Chester.
The Sir Mark Prescott-trained mare, owned and bred by Cheveley Park Stud, almost lost her footing a furlong or so after the start and, with nine horses in front of her turning into the short straight, she was twice denied an opening when Sanders wanted one.
But when she finally found daylight, she quickened up in fine style and bravely cut down Golden Nun close home to score by a neck, with Proud Boast two lengths away in third.
“It suited her behind early on because six furlongs is her limit,” Sanders said. “But it was hard work the last furlong and a half, we were denied a run, and then when I went for a second gap another horse got there first.
“But when we found daylight she really picked up well for me and has done it really well, but everything depends on the ground where she will run next.”
However, the rider picked up a one-day suspension (October 4) for using his whip without allowing Danehurst time to respond.
Richard Mullen, having his only ride of the day, put on a star show for his grandfather Tom when he produced Snow’s Ride with a well-timed run to get the better of Pershaan in the University Of Liverpool Stakes (Showcase Handicap).
Snow’s Ride is a first winner on the course for trainer Willie Muir, and Mullen, whose parents live ten miles away at Wrexham, said: “My grandfather is 87 and this is the first time he has come to see me ride – he must have brought me luck!
“I thought Snow’s Ride had the speed for a mile from the way he worked at home, but the boss said he was a stayer, and he was right – he has been waiting for some cut in the ground and this will have been the making of him.”
Mullen, 27, was taking his score to 31, his best season since the first year out of his apprenticeship, and he went on: “I did not have a very good season in 2002, but I went to Dubai for the winter and rode 18 winners and that helped me get my confidence again – and I am going back out there on November 2.”
Looking to more immediate plans, he said: “I have some nice rides at the big Ascot meeting at the weekend, including Ashdown Express in the Diadem Stakes – I have not won on him, but we were beaten a head by Somnus (winner of the Group One Stanley Leisure Sprint Cup earlier this month) at Newbury and on that form he must be in there with a chance of winning a Group Two.
“He is in good form and likes fast ground – and perhaps I had better ask my grandfather to come down there for luck!”
Barry Hills rates Chester as one of his favourite courses and with a good record here to boot, he was in double form with Go Solo and Mutawaffer, ridden respectively by Paul Hanagan and Richard Hills.
