Brioni give us all a boost for Royal Ascot when bouncing back to form at Sandown
June 14
A winner the week-end before Royal Ascot is always a big boost for any stable, so Alan was all smiles after Brioni had bounced back to form in first-time cheekpieces, coming from last to first to win the mile and a quarter handicap at Sandown today.
There was more encouragement from Brioni at York last time than in his two previous races at Newmarket, which does not look to be his course, though, significantly, Rossa Ryan, who knows Brioni well, felt the headgear was a hindrance rather than a help early on in the race.
Off a strong pace Rossa was able to sit last at the back and, though he was chopped off briefly when trying to wriggle out of a pocket in the straight, Brioni found plenty once he got the great escape and won in good style.
Rossa said:”Brioni was not facing the cheekpieced in the first part of the race, but he came alive when I fired him up turning into the straight, and he picked up the leaders very quickly.
“He is a horse who loves a battle, and Alan said he had been working well, so it looks as if we have him back to the sort of form that he showed last summer, and, hopefully, he might go on from here and win a couple more this season.”
Happily, our three Saturday entries have been confirmed, so keep an eye out for Christian Bruce, who ran better than his final position suggests at Southwell last time and could be interesting in her first handicap hurdle at Uttoxeter.
Tom Cannon heads off to the Staffordshire course to ride Christian Bruce, leaving Tom Bellamy to partner Sharp Glance, who is better than she looked at Newton Abbot when scrambling home last month and will hopefully confirm that suspicion at Hexham.
Our one Flat runner on Saturday is Lola Moon, who would have a definite chance at Sandown when stepping up in distance for the maiden, provided he can reproduce his promising run at Newbury in April. He was gelded afterwards and ought to improve on his subsequent effort at Nottingham.
The weather looks set fair for next week’s Royal meeting, which might not be good news for Trueshan fans hoping for a soft ground Gold Cup for our popular nine-year-old, but besides the quartet entered up for the opening day, Alan has two livewires in the King George V Handicap on Thursday in Kurakka and Daiquiri Bay,
Remember, it was in this race nine years ago that Primitivo provided Alan with his first Royal Ascot winner, and both Kurakka, a convincing winner at Haydock, and Daiquiri Bay, just touched off at Doncaster, are highly-rated at Barbury.
