Oisin Murphy rider of The Waco Kid© Photo Healy Racing
The Waco Kid kept his rivals at bay with an accomplished run to make all in the Group Three Tattersalls Stakes at Newmarket.
Jockey Oisin Murphy immediately grabbed the inside rail at the start of the seven-furlong contest and looked comfortable setting the early pace.
The Hugo Palmer-trained juvenile remained at arm’s length from his five rivals before Hamad Al Jehani’s Diego Ventura and market leader Monumental, representing Aidan O’Brien, made their charge after the halfway mark.
They closed the gap inside the final two furlongs but just as they looked to be reeling in The Waco Kid, he found an extra gear to streak clear.
The 13-2 shot claimed victory by two and quarter lengths to inflict Diego Ventura’s first defeat as he secured place honours with Monumental in third.
Palmer said: “I think he’s very typical of the stallion and Mehmas seems to be taking the mantle of Kodiac and you would always think if someone sent you a Kodiac, there was a ready-made winner for next year and I feel the same about Mehmas as well. They are just so tough and go on every ground.
“This has to be a career best and I think what is lovely about this horse is he has produced career best after career best on every start.
“He’s not the biggest in the world and we’ve tried to make as much of his two-year-old season as we can and I’m absolutely delighted.
“He probably deserves a step up in grade but I suspect I’ve made the most terrible mess of it because he did have nice entries. I think after he was only Listed third and I needed to confirm for the Dewhurst and that sort of thing, I probably took him out and out of the Lagardere as well.
“There’s the Group One in France, the Criterium International, we might go there, but we will see. Saint-Cloud would look his bag but he is not the biggest and he is in the horses in training sale at the end of the month.
“We will just have to look at dates and he is likely to be one of Tattersalls’ star lots there. The Breeders’ Cup could be an option as well, but we will just have to see.
“This is the second iteration of the owners syndicate (Gene Genies) and the first one will wind up this year and not be profitable but if we could sell this lad well, then it would have been a profitable syndicate and we can start buying horses for next year’s syndicate as well.
“I’m sure we will run again and we have five weeks before Tattersalls get their hands on him.”
Murphy said: “Hugo felt it was a good opportunity today and said I should make more use of him and maybe grab the rail.
“It’s rare he has an instruction but he really made it worthwhile and I’m delighted to get the job done.
“He looked like on his last run he would appreciate being ridden prominently and he was a simple ride. He has really improved for racing and training.”
Al Jehani was satisfied with Diego Ventura’s effort on a move up in class.
He said: “I was very happy with him and it was his first time in a stakes race.
“To run in that company of horse and be second or third favourite on his third time out, it shows he does his job very well.
“He handled the seven furlongs very well and the ground was very nice for him. We will see how he is after a couple of days and make a plan for him.
“I think he deserves to run again at this level. When he won at Ascot last time, he showed that he can be a stakes horse and the seven furlongs today was very suitable for him. We were happy to see him finish with a big heart.”
