Strong Suit goes to town in Coventry Stakes
Strong Suit may have a long way to go before he matches the career of stable companion Canford Cliffs but he made a good start by winning the Group Two Coventry Stakes.
Richard Hughes had rated this two-year-old as the best prospect of the Richard Hannon runners at Royal Ascot this week, but that assessment looked far from the truth with a furlong to run.
Strong Suit, (pictured centre), who had been held up at the rear of the field, was hampered as Hughes made his move in the penultimate furlong when he tried to cover the move of Elzaam. Strong Suit was still two lengths down well inside the final furlong but wore down the leader to win by a nose.
It was a lot closer than the six length by which Canford Cliffs won this race last season, but Hughes felt that margin an injustice to his horse’s ability. “I had a nightmare,” Hughes said. “He’s only run once. And it was so easy at Newbury that he didn’t learn a lot. Today I had a barging match with Shane Kelly [riding Klammer]. It was just race riding.
“He was very raw and green on me. He cocked his jaw and ran into the back of one. So I picked him up and got him going again. I had them all beaten at the two-furlong pole. I said ‘let’s go now’ and I went whoosh. I went to go round one of the horses in front of me and I went straight into the back of him. It was like hitting a parked car and how he managed to get going after that is beyond me.
“He wouldn’t have come off the bit if that didn’t happen – he’s a machine. It’d have been my fault if he’d got beat today. Canford Cliffs is more electric than this horse, he knew what to do from day one. This horse has been more of a slow learner. He was green and raw through the race and it’s amazing he got up and won,” Hughes said.
“I don’t know what was going on,” Hannon said. “We won’t worry about it today, we’ll watch it tomorrow. He’s a good horse, we knew that at Newbury – he was a second faster than the Listed race that day. There’s no doubt he’s the best two-year-old we’ve got - it’s just the way he works, the way he travels and his attitude is a different class.”
The other two-year-old, the five-furlong Windsor Castle Stakes, was won by Marine Commando for Richard Fahey, who said: “We got Marine Commando from the breeze-ups and he is all speed. The biggest challenge has been trying to get him to settle. I have to give credit to the lads at home who have done a great job with the horse.”
At the other end of the distance scale, Junior won the two-and-a-half-mile Ascot Stakes for David Pipe.
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http://www.senore.com/Canford-Cliffs-storms-home-in-St-Jamess-Palace-Stakes-a12719
http://www.senore.com/Equiano-flies-home-in-Kings-Stand-Stakes-a12712
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