The day got off to a great start with King Power's TROPEZ POWER running a big race on his third start to land the 6f Novice under Silvestre De Sousa. He has improved greatly for each run and looks to be a big promising colt for the future.
Having run a superb race on her last outing at Sandown HAPPY ROMANCE seemed a very big price at 11/1 in the Group 3 Hackwood Stakes. She had her trip, her ground and course form so everything seemed bang on and boy did she deliver. Despite not having a clear run and having to wait it out between the two and one pole, once she got out she flew home to win cosily by a neck under Sean Levey. She posted a very fast time as well and we are sure that there's an even bigger race win in her this season.
Her delighted owner Ray McMurray said “After Sandown we thought there was something there, but she just hasn’t had her ground all season. We thought she had every chance today, we were cautiously optimistic as the last time we had this sort of going was in the Super Sprint last year. This is better though, last year there were 10 people here!
Richard always said she’s trained on, but he actually said the worry might be crowds as none of last year’s two-year-olds had ever seen one. She had to prove it today and now we might go to Goodwood and take on Battaash, I think she deserves to.”
Onto the feature race of the day - the Weatherbys Super Sprint - one of our all time favourite races. Having won the race last year with Happy Romance and then seeing her win the race before we were all full of confidence and rightly so as we came home with a 1-2! The very consistent SYMPHONY PERFECT ran another great race showing plenty of speed to come second for Amo Racing but it was GUBBASS that came home the strongest to win by half a length for Jassim Bin Ali Al Attiyah and give jockey Sean Levey a double on the day. This son of Mehmas has always showed plenty at home and having won on his first start at Leicester we gave him some time to mature with this race in mind. This son of Mehmas looks like he could be a really exciting two year old and we can't wait to watch him progress throughout the rest of the season.
Richard said "We've always liked him a lot, we didn't go to Ascot because he was growing - but he's a very good horseH. e'll probably go to the Richmond at Goodwood now, I've put him in the Gimcrack as well. He just wasn't right before Ascot and was working moderately, there was no point going to Ascot if he wasn't working very well and this race came at the right time in terms of Goodwood. He's a very good two-year-old, no question, only time will tell if he's more than that. He will probably get further, as the further he went the better he was going."
"It's been a good few weeks, but days like today are vital for everyone. Races like this, for the smaller owner, it is their day and it's very important they have their day. There's room for everyone."