Heading to Ascot on Friday Richard was up to 99 winners for the year. The season so far had been strong with plenty of winners on the weekends including a five timer back in May, with STEEL OF MADRID winning the Listed Fairway Stakes and OH THIS IS US winning a nice one hundred thousand pound Handicap at Goodwood. There have been many days with doubles and trebles and this is all down to the work of the team at home and the owners.
One race into the day saw EQTIRAAN take the six furlong Maiden Stakes under Paul Hanagan for Hamdan Al Maktoum. He strode out nicely in the early stages making all, finishing off strongly over the last 100 yards. ‘He is a lovely big horse who we have looked after and taken our time with. He is a horse we will look forward to next year with but there is plenty of fun to be had this year. I will give him a bit of time before running him again.’
The son of Helmet brought up the 100th winner of the season for Richard. ‘It’s a huge team effort to hit this landmark and I am glad it happened before Goodwood as it allows us to go there full of confidence. There have been many notable performances thus far this season including MEHMAS winning the July Stakes, HUMPHREY BOGART running a gallant race in the Derby, TOORMORE taking the Sandown Mile and hopefully many others to come. I look forward to this week every year and I am hopeful of having plenty of winners.’