Luther produced a fine turn of foot to take Listed honours in the Betfair Daily Tips On Betting.Betfair Ascendant Stakes at Haydock.
A winner over seven furlongs at Salisbury on debut for Charlie Fellowes in June, he returned to that track for his last run and found only New Century too good in the Stonehenge Stakes.
Kept to Listed level and a mile again on Merseyside, Luther (16/5) made amends for that half-length defeat in real style, easily accounting for a classy field. Godolphin’s Age Of Gold was sent off favourite but he was already beaten a couple of furlongs from home as Luther sat in behind horses, looking full of running for Danny Tudhope.
When the rider eventually delivered his challenge a furlong out, Luther’s response was immediate and he quickly went clear, cruising to victory by two lengths over outsider Qilin Queen.
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Fellowes said: “He won his maiden nicely and he had a very minor setback between his maiden and his second start. I’d intended to go to Ascot for a Listed race there, but we missed that and ended up at Salisbury. I just wonder if he needed the run a little bit that day, mentally more than anything. We were impressed with his run and he was more the finished article today.
“I wasn’t worried about the ground today, in fact I thought a bit of cut would suit him a little bit better, being by Frankel. I was just hoping that he was good enough to go and put in a performance like that and it’s great. He’s a horse we’ve always thought a lot of, his work at home has been very good, he’s got a great mind on him and hopefully he’s an exciting horse for next year.
“He’s not overly-big, but he’s a strong and really well made powerful colt. He’s got as good a mind as I’ve trained and wants it, which is a big factor.”
A son of Frankel out a Musidora winner in Give And Take, Luther was a 250,000 guineas purchase as a yearling last year and has entries that befit his pedigree in both the Royal Lodge Stakes at Newmarket later this month and the Group One Dewhurst Stakes on October 12.
Luther is a 10/1 chance for the Royal Lodge and 20/1 for the Dewhurst with Betfair, with the first-named Group Two contest Fellowes’ favoured option at present and a later run at either Doncaster or the Breeders’ Cup not ruled out.
He added: “He’s in the Royal Lodge and I guess that’s probably the most obvious place to go next. After that we’ll see whether we stay here for a Futurity Trophy or we put him away and the Breeders’ Cup is an option as well – it’s lovely to talk about these races. He’s got a lot of options and hopefully he’ll be a Guineas horse next year.”
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