Richard Hughes partners Sky Lantern to success in Coronation Stakes – Horseracing News
Richard Hughes rode Sky Lantern to a dominant victory in the Coronation Stakes (British Champions Series) (Group 1) at Ascot.
The three-year-old filly was unmatchable, as she succeeded by four lengths. There have been some close encounters at Ascot this year but this one proved one-sided in the end. The bookies were expecting a thrilling battle amongst
some of the runners, thus no one was rated as the clear favourite.
However, the predictions of the bookmakers failed this time around despite the fact that the winning filly was unable to get off to a quick start. She was steady in the opening phases of the race and Hughes decided to push her
towards the final few yards. The seasoned jockey did not have to put in much effort though, as his challenger got into lead pretty early.
From that point onwards, there was no stopping Sky Lantern, as she continued to build her lead over the rival fillies. Her magnificent run helped the owners bag a cash prize of £216,348 from the class-1 encounter.
After the race, Hughes was delighted and said about his partner, “She made them look slow - and they're not bad. You don't do those things unless the people behind you really trust you. I'm lucky. You've got to believe in yourself
and what you do. Richard [Hannon] said go out and enjoy yourself, do what you're good at and that makes all the difference.”
On the other hand, assistant trainer of the victorious filly, Richard Hannon jr.claimed that Sky Lantern can sometimes make things difficult for herself but she was on song in the Coronation Stakes, which delighted the entire camp.
Second spot in the race went to Kenhope, who entered the competition with a starting price of 33 to 1 and was not event expected to finish in the top-five. Therefore, her team was happy with her solid run.
The runner up trainer Henri-Alex Pantall said about his runner, “She ran very well and she was very courageous. She didn't come though the bend too well but she finished well and showed a nice turn of foot. The owner bred her and
also owns the stallion so he's very happy.”
Overall, the biggest disappointment of the race was Big Break, who was rated as the joint favourite to succeed, but could not manage more than seventh in the end.
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