MPR At The Double!
Thu 11 Jun 2020
We do love a double at #TeamMPR, in fact that was our third of the year!
Yesterday we sent out three runners and both Batchelor Boy and Oleg won, with Elusive Heights taking a nice season opening 2nd place; so not a bad day 'at the racecourse office!' This takes us to 21 winners for the year, which is closing the gap nicely to where we were at this time last year - even with the break in racing we all had.
BATCHELOR BOY (Marco Botti) - Wolverhampton 5f Class 4 Handicap and ridden by Ryan Moore.
He is a likeable 3 year old son of Footstepsinthesand, who we purchased last year at the Tattersalls Craven breeze up sale. He has now won all three of his starts at the track, both over 5f and 6f and yesterday, Ryan gave him a superb ride. He set him alight at the start but when he realised that the pace was strong, he took the decision to steady him midfield. He started to work at the 1furlong pole and although having to pull wide, he ran on strongly to lead and won, going away by 1 1/2 lengths, as you can see here!
Timeform rated it as a career best performance and have given him a rating of 91. He has plenty of nice opportunities both on the AW and on the turf, so we will liaise with Marco, who's horses are in fine form and look forward to his next start!
See the official photos here: https://www.jahphoto.co.uk/-/galleries/wolverhampton-horse-racing-2020/june-2020/10th-june-2020/race-1-210-winner
Watch the full replay here: https://www.attheraces.com/racecard/Wolverhampton/10-June-2020/1410
OLEG (Paul Nicholls) - Pontefract 2m 1f Class 4 Handicap and ridden by Megan Nicholls.
We bought him privately last year from France and what a star he has been for his owners across all three codes! Winning on his MPR debut over hurdles, winning over fences and now winning twice on the flat. He and Megan have a great rapport and she gave him a great well judged ride yesterday at Pontefract. The handicapper put him up 12lbs after their convincing with at Southwell last time out and the step up in grade didn't faze them. Although he took a small trip at the start and was slowly away, Megan settled him and didn't panic! He continued to gallop away, slowly making up ground and at the 2f pole Megan began to ask him for more, making good headway 1f out, he stayed on and went to lead in the final strides.
Oleg saw the trip out well and has earned the right to step up in class again and will now head to the Qatar Goodwood Festival at the end of July. The race we have in mind for him was won by our very own Timoshenko last year, so fingers crossed he can defend the crown! It was a double for Paul and Megan at the track yesterday too, so well done to the team. Read more here: https://www.racingtv.com/news/nicholls-team-takes-centre-stage-with-pontefract-double.
Watch the full replay here: https://www.racingtv.com/videos/watch/horse_racing_replays/276822-napoleons-casino-bradford-handicap-4
See the official photos here: https://www.onlinepictureproof.com/officialphotographersonline/albums/Pontefract/754105_333280/browse/
Well done to both sets of winning owners and thank you to Marco, Paul, Ryan, Megan and all the hard working teams at home.
ELUSIVE HEIGHTS (Roger Fell) made a striking seasonal reappearance too yesterday, when taking 2nd at Pontefract. A pleasing start to the season, where he showed plenty of zest and enthusiasm to get to the front but was just getting tired as he drifted off the rail to let the winner up his inner. We’ll look for something similar for him now in the programme book.