A view of the Goodwood racetrack with Align The Stars (rails) winning under Joe Fanning © Photo Healy Racing
A tilt at the St Leger could be on the agenda for Align The Stars after digging deep to complete his hat-trick in the Coral Summer Handicap at Goodwood.
The record-breaking Mark Johnston had saddled four of the last 10 winners of the one-mile-six-furlong contest before fully handing over the reins to his son Charlie last year.
Align The Stars was a 100-30 joint-favourite to strike gold for the current licence holder at Kingsley House following successive wins at Thirsk and Haydock and he refused to bend under a typically well-judged ride from Joe Fanning.
Having been sent straight to the lead, the challengers were queuing up to have a pop at the Sea The Stars colt halfway up the straight and he briefly looked in trouble after being passed.
However, with the far rail to help, Align The Stars gritted his teeth to wrestle back the advantage and he had just enough in the tank to repel the other joint-favourite Fairbanks by a neck.
“He’s a grand horse. He wasn’t doing a lot up the straight until Oisin (Murphy, on Fairbanks) came to me, then he picked up and was always just doing enough,” said Fanning.
“He’s won well in the end and hopefully there is more to come. He has a great attitude.”
Johnston said: “It was good, but it certainly wasn’t plan A and they aren’t tactics (front-running) we’ll look to replicate again.
“He’s huge, for a start, and quite literally he barely fits in the stalls. If you look back at his races at the start of the year, he was really struggling with the first 50 yards to get out and get into stride, and as a result he was always finding himself in pretty difficult positions.
“That definitely cost him races at York and Hamilton.
“He’s got better in that regard but Joe still has to be very aggressive in that first 50 yards to get a good position.
“It wasn’t the plan to be making the running and it was only when horses actually came to him and didn’t get away from him that I knew he was going to come back strong – and so he did.”
Paddy Power cut Align The Stars, whose full-brother Al Aasy won the preceding Glorious Stakes, to 20-1 from 25-1 for next month’s St Leger – and his trainer is keen on a crack at Classic glory.
“I was quite prepared to run him in the Gordon if it was the only option available to us, but I think a mile and a half on this ground would have been too sharp a test for him, so when there was the option to run over a mile and six on this ground, we felt we could away with it,” he added.
“Tony (Farmer, owner) has always dreamed of York and if you had asked us at every stage this season, the Melrose was probably the pinnacle for this year, but he’s probably gone beyond that race now.
“He’s in the Voltigeur, the Lonsdale Cup and he’s in the St Leger. It’s going to require another fair step up to be competitive at that level but I have enough faith in the horse that it’s a realistic aim.
“He still hasn’t raced over a relentless mile and six and I think stamina is what is going to bring this horse to the next level.”
