Athos pleases punters Mount Athos scored on his first start for the David Wachman yard when coming home strongly under Wayne Lordan to land a touch in the 1m4f handicap. A progressive handicapper last year when scoring three times for John Hills, the well-bred son of Montjeu was purchased for 190,000 guineas by Dr Marwan Koukash last autumn. Like a good number of winners this evening, the four-year-old was well-backed this morning (16/1 with William Hill) and went off at just 6/1. Mount Athos was patiently-ridden to lead at the furlong pole, and stayed on well under Lordan to beat Dreamy Gent (16/1) by two lengths with High Importance (66/1) another half length back in third. The Mark Johnston-trained Emerging Artist was close to the pace but could find no extra from over a furlong out, and the 7/4 favourite weakened to finish eighth. Trainer David Wachman later reported by phone: “He came from the horses-in-training sale at Newmarket last year. He showed smart form in England and confirmed that again here. I've no further plans.”
