Kings Gambit takes Sandown victory as Black Spirit finishes second – Horse Racing Update
The horse and rider to emerge victorious at the Gordon Richards Stakes at Sandown on Saturday were Kings Gambit and jockey Jamie Spencer.
Both performed really well throughout, but exceptionally so in the last stages of the race when Kings Gambit fended off competent rivals from all sides and managed to make it to first place under the guidance of Spencer.
The participants of this race were horses that were of four years old or above, who had to run over a distance of a mile and two furlongs to complete the event.
Spencer took charge of the race from the beginning and never gave way once throughout the race. Kings Gambit, the son of Silvano, was placed at the odds of 5-1 for this particular contest and consistently raced clear down the back without stopping and even
the wide off final turn was not enough for the pursuing race-horses to catch up to Kings Gambit.
The trio of Afsare, Black Spirit and Shamali rushed at Kings Gambit on the outside as during the last three furlongs and after leaving those three in the dust of his heels, Kings had to face Nouriya on the inside as they both neared the final furlong.
However, Nouriya did not turn out to be much of a threat after all and it was not him, but Black Spirit ridden by jockey Luke Morris at a chance of 16-1, who managed to place second after vigorously chasing down Kings Gambit once more.
Although the chase was close, Kings Gambit, the horse of seven years of age who has been under the care of trainer Tom Tate, worked together with jockey Spencer to take the competition by barely just a head.
This victory was a first for Kings Gambit since his win on his seasonal debut at Ripon in the previous season. That does not go to say, however, that he was winning out of turn since Kings finished in the frame in six out of eight starts that he has had
since.
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