Callum Shepherd© Photo Healy Racing
Jockey Callum Shepherd enjoyed more Saturday success as Phantom Flight went one better than last year to claim the Get Best Odds Guaranteed At BetVictor Steventon Stakes at Newbury.
Second to William Haggas’ Al Aasy 12 months ago, the five-year-old was making his seasonal return in the Listed race, which was also his first outing since being gelded and for new trainer George Scott.
Having made the running when vanquished last year, Shepherd was happy to let 6-5 favourite Alyanaabi go forward before asking the 16-1 outsider of five to move to the lead approaching the final furlong.
Al Aasy gave chase late in the day, but there was no denying Phantom Flight as he kept on resolutely for a one-length success.
The winner sports the same red silks of Victorious Racing that Isle Of Jura carried to success at Royal Ascot and he is likely to try to follow in the footsteps of Scott’s stable star by venturing to Bahrain later in the year via the Coral Glorious Stakes at Goodwood on August 3.
Scott said: “We’ve been really pleased with him since he came to us, he arrived in great condition and we decided to geld him and his work is pleasing.
“He’s a horse who doesn’t take much training, he just has an amazing stride and a great way of going.
“It might sound crazy as the outsider of the field, but I wasn’t surprised to see him win. He’s got a lot of quality and back form, he was bought for the Bahrain International and that looks the perfect race for him down the line.
“He will try to emulate Isle Of Jura I guess, but he will run a couple of times more before going (to Bahrain).
“There’s a Group Three at Goodwood on the Saturday which is for four-year-olds and up which looks a really good spot for him and he will fit in a race like that nicely. I think he will like the track and if he comes out of this nicely, I think he will go for that.”
Temporize pulled out all the stops in the Metal UK Handicap, as Haggas and owners Shadwell had to settle for second once again with Naqeeb.
Given a fine ride by Connor Beasley, Syd Hosie’s five-year-old was always towards the fore and showed real toughness when challenged late inside the final furlong.
The 10-1 winner will now head to Goodwood to try to win the Coral Goodwood Handicap two years running before taking another shot at the Cesarewitch in the autumn.
Hosie said: “It was great and we ran him from the front today. I was worried he might have got caught but I said to Connor ‘turn him loose three out’ and it was a cracking run from the horse.
“Connor gave him a great ride and he won the Northumberland Plate recently, so he’s clearly good at these staying races isn’t he. His timing was impeccable there on the front-end today.
“He’ll go back to the Goodwood two-mile-four race which he won last year and then we will probably got and have another crack at the Cesarewitch and ride him a bit differently.
“His shoes came off in the race last year and he has better feet this year as well, so it would be nice to have a proper crack at it this year.”
The Waco Kid (16-5) was a taking winner of the Take A Lucky Dip At BetVictor EBF Novice Stakes for Hugo Palmer and jockey Oisin Murphy, while Rossa Ryan got the chance to don the Godolphin silks and steer Charlie Appleby’s Dubai Melody (11-2) to victory in the Darley EBF Fillies’ Novice Stakes.
The concluding British Stallion Studs EBF Premier Fillies’ Handicap went the way of Richard Hannon’s Circe, who stuck on gamely at the end of the one-mile event in the hands of Hollie Doyle at odds of 11-2.
