Alflaila© Photo Healy Racing
Alflaila secured a second straight win in the Group Two Sky Bet York Stakes after finishing best of all off a sedate pace.
Callum Shepherd made the early running on King’s Gambit in the 10-furlong affair, but it soon became apparent that he did not want to make this a test of stamina.
Instead, the race developed into a late sprint for glory and it was Jim Crowley who had the last laugh on 9-4 joint-favourite Alflaila, who got up close home to beat the front-runner by half a length.
It was just a second start of the season for the Owen Burrows-trained five-year-old, who was a creditable fourth behind Auguste Rodin in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot last month.
Sir Michael Stoute’s Passenger did not have the race run to suit on his first start since Chester’s May meeting, but plugged on for third, three-quarters of a length further back. It later transpired he had suffered an injury during the race.
Burrows had a day to remember this time last year as Hukum won the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot shortly after Alflaila took his York prize.
The trainer said: “He’s an absolute star, he was a big part of the day last year. I was at Ascot so I missed it and it’s great to be here today.
“He’d be better off with a faster pace, probably everything that ran in that race would have been. I thought halfway and two furlongs down that he was going to come and win, then a furlong down I thought ‘oh, hang on a second’.
“A furlong down he just kicked in, he’s so game. Such an honest horse.
“The manoeuvre on the bend was probably the difference between winning and losing, if they’d have kicked where he was sat I don’t think he’d have got there. That was a great move from Jim.”
Alflaila holds an entry for the Juddmonte International and has been cut from 16-1 to 8-1 for the race with Coral.
Burrow said of the possibility of him running on the Knavesmire next month: “I’ll have to have a chat with Sheikha Hissa, but he obviously does love it here.
“It’s the third time he’s won here so it does suit him, we’ll see what everybody thinks and then make a plan.”
