Glen Buck produced a tremendous display to claim the £30 In Free Bets With BetUK Handicap at Southwell, as all-weather racing kept the show on the road on Saturday evening.
Trained by Roger Varian, the six-year-old had impressed in two victories on the all-weather in early 2023, but spent over 600 days on the sidelines before returning to finish third at Wolverhampton in November.
Having blown away the cobwebs during that promising reappearance, he was sent off 5-2 for the feature class three handicap on a bitter Saturday evening in Nottinghamshire, and travelled stylishly through the middle-distance event for Jack Mitchell.
Having cruised into contention, he readily accounted for Andrew Balding’s Old Harrovian at the finish, returning a winning distance of three-quarters of a length which perhaps underestimates the ease of the success, with 11-8 favourite Moon Over Miami only fourth in the hands of Hector Crouch.
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Mitchell told Sky Sports Racing: “It was a lovely performance and he’s still a really inexperienced horse. The way the race panned out I was in the box seat with loads of cover and everything went really to plan. When I asked him to quicken he was still just a bit unsure about things, but the other horse helped me get competitive and he stuck his neck out.
“He’s galloped right out and you might see him over a bit further in time. Fair play to Roger and his team and hopefully he will be a nice horse to take us through to the (new) season.
“All being well he stays fit and healthy (we will see him again soon), I’m not sure what the plan is but I would like that to be the plan.
“I think a mile and a half would be within range and he’s learning all the time. Today we went up in trip and he kind of jumped into the bridle a furlong down the back and I had to say ‘whoa’ to him and he came back, he’s pretty easy to deal with.”
Crouch may have been out of luck on Moon Over Miami but he enjoyed success aboard Jack Jones’ Star Of Atlantis (100-30) in the Boost Your Acca At BetMGM Classified Stakes, before making all to secure a double on Hugo Palmer’s Misty Sky (9-2) in the Best Odds Guaranteed At BetMGM Handicap.
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