Raymond Tusk books his place on All Weather Finals Day!

Sat 14 Dec 2019

The £21,000 Betway Conditions Stakes (All-Weather Championships Fast-Track Qualifier) (Class 2) at Newcastle.

39 days after his run in the Melbourne Cup, our Richard Hannon trained colt showed how tough he is, by winning the feature 2m 1/2f race at Newcastle today. He looked in great shape in the paddock and was singled out by the At The Races team - he is a credit to the Richard Hannon team.

It was a super ride by Tom Marquand, who had him travelling sweetly, tracking the leaders. When asked for an effort in the straight, he and the runner up fought hard to the line, but the drive from Tom and Raymond's game attitude had him ahead by 1/2 a length at the finish. The French trained horse in second, Funny Kid, won last years All Weather Championships Marathon race and by winning today, Raymond automatically books his place in the race on AW Finals day at Lingfield! He was the Racing Post 'Star performer' too: "Raymond Tusk showed class and tenacity to score on his AW bow."

Read about the All Weather Championships here: https://www.awchampionships.co.uk/leaderboards/championship-leaderboards/marathon/

Read the At The Races story, including Tom Marquand's interview here: https://www.attheraces.com/news/2019/December/14/tusk-triumphs-for-hannon-team-in-newcastle-highlight.

Here are some post race thoughts from his syndicate manager Tim Palin: https://www.attheraces.com/news/2019/December/15/tusk-could-take-in-saudi-arabia-before-finals-day-at-lingfield

See the official photos here: https://www.grossick.co.uk/v/photos/80532khg/C360039004/x2-raymond-tusk

He brings up our 90th winner of the year.

Well done to his owners - who as you can see in the photo were delighted (and wearing their Melbourne Cup jackets too!)