Aston Martin Dash
Heritage Handicap, Epsom 15:20
£100,000 guaranteed,
3yo plus,
5f, Class 2   
Saturday 3rd June 2023

Quinnbet

1 Navello 25/1
2 Silkie Wilkie 17/2
3 Clarendon House 13/2
4 Zarzyni 17/2
20 ran Distances: shd, hd, ¾l
Time: 54.23s (slow by 0.43s)

Navello ran out a narrow winner from Silky Wilkie and Clarendon House with the second looking unlucky having been denied a clear passage.

There were no such problems for Andrea Atzeni aboard Navello - who was wearing cheekpieces for the first time - and he finished strongly down the centre of the track, hitting the line strongly.

The winning distances were a short-head and a head. Zarzyni finished fourth and One Night Stand fifth.

Clifford Lee, rider of Silky Wilkie, said: "I got stopped in my run, I was very unlucky not to get up, I thought if I had the gap a little bit earlier I would have gone for it and he would have kept going; I was very unlucky.

"I was stuck for about four or five strides, it felt like more, it's always tempting a bit where the track angles downhill a bit and the ones on the outside are rolling in all the time."

There were no such concerns for George Boughey who was delighted at saddling his second winner of the Derby Festival. He said: "It has been quite a long term plan for him.

BetGoodwiin

"He does like fast ground and I felt the strong pace would suit him. It was a bit of a nervy last furlong but he's progressive; I know he was an early two-year-old but he was still very immature last year but I was pretty keen to persuade the owner to keep him in training with this race in mind so it's nice when a plan comes off.

"He was very immature physically and hadn't fully grown. He won a race or two last year but he didn't go to the heights that he might do this year. He travelled a bit better in the cheekpieces this time, he doesn't do much at home but he does it on the track anyway.

"There's a race at Goodwood for him, a similar sort of configuration of track, downhill, a fast five, strong pace will probably suit him so we might just wait for Goodwood."

The drama didn't end there as the stewards called an enquiry into the possibility that not all of the starting stalls gates opened at the same time.

Mathematician Betting

Aston Martin 'Dash' (Heritage Handicap)
£100,000 guaranteed, 3yo plus, 5f, Class 2
20 ran
Going: Good to Firm

POS. (DRAW) DIST HORSE AGE TRAINER JOCKEY SP
1 (5)    Navello 4 8-7 George Boughey Andrea Atzeni 25/1
2 (7) shd Silky Wilkie 4 9-12 K R Burke Clifford Lee 17/2
3 (2) hd Clarendon House 5 9-5 Robert Cowell Daniel Muscutt 13/2
4 (8) ¾ Zarzyni 6 8-13 David & Nicola Barron Connor Beasley 17/2
5 (4) nk One Night Stand 6 8-11 Scott Dixon P J McDonald 40/1
6 (17) nk Angle Land 4 8-3 Robert Cowell Hayley Turner 14/1
7 (9) 1¼ Papa Don't Preach 4 8-2 Kevin Frost William Pyle 50/1
8 (1) nse Recon Mission 7 8-2 Tony Carroll Mollie Phillips 40/1
9 (11) nk Mokaatil 8 8-4 Ian Williams Sean D Bowen 16/1
10 (12) ½ Sampers Seven 6 8-3 Michael Appleby G Cheyne 18/1
11 (10) ¾ Came From The Dark 7 8-10 Ed Walker Saffie Osborne 20/1
12 (14) shd Alligator Alley 6 9-1 David O'Meara Jason Watson 18/1
13 (3) hd The Thin Blue Line 5 8-2 Keith Dalgleish Cam Hardie 50/1
14 (19) nk Vintage Clarets 4 8-9 Richard Fahey Oisin Murphy 15/2
15 (16) ½ Ancient Times 5 8-10 Harry Eustace Kaiya Fraser 8/1
16 (15) shd Lord Riddiford 8 8-6 John Quinn Marco Ghiani 33/1
17 (20) ¾ Live In The Moment 6 8-6 Alice Haynes Kieran O'Neill 6/1F
18 (13) ½ Mountain Peak 8 9-6 Ed Walker Tom Marquand 25/1
19 (6) 1¾ Look Out Louis 7 9-1 Julie Camacho Barry McHugh 25/1
20 (18) 2¾ Lihou 7 8-3 David Evans Hollie Doyle 11/1