Coral Glorious Stakes report and replay: Al Aasy swoops late

Oisin Murphy set perfect fractions up front aboard Relentless Journey in the Group Three contest and as he stacked the field up, Jim Crowley aboard the winner was in behind and travelling sweetly.

Racing room as the problem and it only appeared when the leader and eventual runner-up drifted away from the far rail inside the distance and William Haggas' charge needed no second invitation, picking up smartly to sweep past his rival and win by a length.

The winning jockey told ITV Racing: "It was a messy race. We went very steady which we knew we would. I got a bit closer at the top of the hill and then I was quite happy when he was in a pocket. William said to ride him for luck and, if it opens up, it opens up. We just needed that gap and I was very fortunate to have got up the rail.

"There wasn’t a lot of room up the rail and, in fairness to the horse, he was very brave. Once he was in there, it was game over really. He’s just as good over ten furlongs as he is over a mile-and-a-half. He has been a bit unlucky because that’s his run style. Obviously, he has been called a few names in the past for not being a battler. He is just one of those horses who has to be produced at the last minute.

“William said if you get beat riding for luck, it’s one of those things. When a trainer says that you, it takes the pressure off a little bit."

Angus Gold, racing manager to winning owners Shadwell Estate Company, added: " "It was always going to be a hard race for Jim to ride because William is adamant that this horse likes to have something to aim at and he doesn't want him making the running or being too handy.

"We knew there wasn't going to be much pace and you need all the luck to go with you on those occasions. As Jim said, they slowed it up coming up the hill so he didn't want to be single file sitting out the back if they quickened so he let him slide up the inside but then you are in the hands of good fortune and the racing gods, particularly here.

"The horse has still got the class and luckily when he did squeeze through he quickened up and doesn't even know he's had a race.

"He's always had a huge opinion of the horse. People keep knocking him but he's won nearly £400,00 and I wouldn't mind a few more like that.

"The ability is still there, he took a long time to come to himself this spring, it was a horrible spring as you know, and William sensibly let him find his own way.

"It shows you how important it is to have these older horses in training. We need these horses to be competing at the bigger meetings. The one real positive today is that he only ran for a hundred yards."

Murphy said of the runner-up: “I didn’t think I came off the rail, so well done to Jim for getting that run. It was a career best from Relentless Voyager, so I’m very pleased."

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