Investec Corporate Banking Dash |
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| Heritage Handicap, Epsom 15:45 £100,000 added, 3yo plus, 5f, Class 2  |
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| Saturday 3rd June 2017 | |
1 Caspian Prince 25/1
2 Dark Shot 10/1
3 Duke Of Firenze 9/1
4 A Momentofmadness 8-1
19 ran NR: Orvar
Distances: shd, nse, ¾l Time: 54.92s
Another Investec Dash win for super speedy Caspian Prince
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The Tony Coyle-trained Caspian Prince became the first horse to win the Dash on three separate occasions as he gamely held on in the 2017 edition of the five furlong event under Tom Eaves.
After breaking smartly, the eight-year-old son of Dylan Thomas started to tire inside the closing stages but just managed to land the spoils by a short-head.
The Andrew Balding-trained Dark Shot stayed on powerfully to take second, with a nose back to 2013 Dash winner Duke Of Firenze in third and a further three-quarters of a length back to the fourth Amomentofmadness.
Caspian Prince's three successes in the race have all come for different trainers, with Tony Carroll in 2014 and Dean Ivory in 2016 saddling the gelding to victory.
A delighted Yorkshire-based Coyle, who only started training the horse earlier this year, said: "It's grand, he loves the place. He knows more about the place than we do!
"It just suits him here. He barely gets five furlongs but he enjoys the downhill run here and the change of yard freshens him up and I think it's a bit of a ploy with the owner. It doesn't impress everyone but it works.
"The plan was always to come here and he goes on any ground. He just needs quicker ground here and he got out of the gates quickly here and he loves coming down the hill.
"I thought with the draw that we had been done no favours but with his early speed, he would be able to get across and get to where he got to. I just hoped he would cling on.
"That is his sort of trademark to try and win his race in the first two furlongs and then cling on for the last three furlongs - he just loves the place.
"If there were four-furlong races, he would probably be unbeaten! Here just suits him because I think that first furlong where they are rolling downhill helps him.
"He goes to the same races every year and he will probably go to Musselburgh [Scottish Sprint Cup] in a couple of weeks and then he could go back to Qatar but we'll see."
Coyle added: "He is a very easy horse to train."
Investec Specialist Bank 'Dash' (Heritage Handicap)
£100,000 added, 3yo plus, 5f, Class 2
19 ran
Going: Good, Good to Firm in places
| Pos | Dr | D | Horse SP | Jockey Weight | Trainer | Age |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | (1) | Caspian Prince (IRE) 25/1 | T Eaves 9-8 |
T Coyle | 8 | |
| 2nd | (10) | s.h | Dark Shot 10/1 | M Dwyer 8-2 |
A M Balding | 4 |
| 3rd | (12) | nse | Duke Of Firenze (ex4) 9/1 | D Allan 9-8 |
D C Griffiths | 8 |
| 4th | (5) | ¾ | A Momentofmadness 8/1 | S De Sousa 8-6 |
C Hills | 4 |
| 5th | (11) | s.h | Edward Lewis (ex4) 14/1 | Josh Doyle (3) 9-1 |
D O'Meara | 4 |
| 6th | (18) | ½ | Boom The Groom (IRE) 8/1 | A Kirby 9-5 |
A W Carroll | 6 |
| 7th | (9) | hd | Desert Law (IRE) 8/1 | Oisin Murphy 8-9 |
P T Midgley | 9 |
| 8th | (7) | nk | El Astronaute (IRE) (ex4) 12/1 | Jason Hart 8-9 |
J J Quinn | 4 |
| 9th | (15) | ½ | Line Of Reason (IRE) 12/1 | P Mulrennan 8-12 |
P T Midgley | 7 |
| 10th | (20) | ½ | Kimberella 6/1f | Connor Murtagh (7) 9-10 |
R A Fahey | 7 |
| 11th | (17) | 1 | Exceed The Limit 25/1 | K T O'Neill 8-7 |
R M H Cowell | 4 |
| 12th | (19) | s.h | Olivia Fallow (IRE) 16/1 | Aaron Jones (3) 8-0 |
P T Midgley | 5 |
| 13th | (13) | nse | Excessable (ex4) 8/1 | Rob Hornby 8-2 |
T D Easterby | 4 |
| 14th | (2) | 1¼ | Majestic Hero (IRE) 33/1 | Tom Marquand 8-7 |
R Harris | 5 |
| 15th | (8) | ½ | Move In Time 33/1 | D Tudhope 9-1 |
D O'Meara | 9 |
| 16th | (14) | ½ | Bowson Fred 14/1 | J P Sullivan 9-1 |
M W Easterby | 5 |
| 17th | (16) | ¾ | Union Rose 33/1 | F Sweeney 8-8 |
R Harris | 5 |
| 18th | (4) | 2¾ | Blithe Spirit 50/1 | Hollie Doyle (3) 8-5 |
E J Alston | 6 |
| 19th | (3) | 2¼ | Sign of The Kodiac (IRE) 25/1 | F Norton 8-6 |
J G Given | 4 |
| NR | (6) | Orvar (IRE) | Liam Jones 8-7 |
R M H Cowell | 4 |
DARK SHOOTS LATE, MISSES BY A SHORT HEAD
Dark Shot was a good couple of lengths off the field mid-way through the race, and it wasn't until hitting the rising ground that he began to tag onto his rivals' coat tails.
Once there, the four-year-old gelding got himself right back into things, and with his rivals moving off the rails in front of the Jeff Smith-owned runner, Dark Shot had clear passage through to the line. He just missed by a short head.
"He's was just a little outpaced early on, but he has come home strong," said trainer Andrew Balding. "I am delighted with him, he is really improving, like his mother Dark Missile, she won a Wokingham and there is a big handicap in him too.
"He wouldn't get into the Wokingham and the Stewards' Cup is the race for him, if we can get him up enough in the handicap."
"I'd love to know his sectional times for the last furlong, it must have been pretty rapid!" added the trainer.
FIRENZE UPHOLDS FINE DASH RECORD
9/1 shot Duke Of Firenze continued his love affair with the Dash with a fine effort in third place this afternoon.
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The David Griffiths-trained gelding, who won this race in 2013 when trained by Sir Michael Stoute, also finished third in 2016 and was only denied by a short-head and a nose.
Griffiths was rueing his luck after the race and revealed that he will have to think about stepping Duke Of Firenze up in grade on his next start.
"That was so close," said Griffiths.
"He's run so well again there and is now rated 107 so we'll have to look at Group races for him now.
"I think the Nunthorpe at York would be the main aim now. He loves it at York and, given nice quick ground, he could run a big race there.
"He's run a cracker here off his highest ever mark though so we're delighted with him."
Charlie Hills, trainer of the fourth, 8/1 chance A Momentofmadness, said: "We are really pleased with his run.
"He had a lousy draw (in five) but was very quick away from the stalls and got a nice handy position. He got a little lost on this track so we will find a level track and a stiff five furlongs next."
