Contact makes a good impression at Haydock
A Royal Ascot appearance could be on the cards for Contact after doubling their total for the season in the Betfred Double Delight Handicap at Haydock.
Trained by David Barron and his daughter Nicola, Gutaifan’s gray son won at Newmarket four weeks ago and had a 100-30 chance of following Merseyside.
He looked like he could have a real fight on his hands when 2-1 favorite Mahrajaan loomed ominously, but Contact found more pressure to comfortably score a length and a quarter shadow in the hands of Ben Curtis.
Universal Order finished strong to beat Mahrajaan to second place.
“He’s a very good horse and he’s getting better with age,” said David Barron.
“He hasn’t raced in Newmarket for a month and he’s a bit of a lively lad. You wouldn’t believe him walking around here, but at home he screams at everything, and when you leave him home for that long, you have to be so hard on him just to keep him under control.
“We came here to see if we should come back here for the Old Newton Cup or there is the mile and six (furlong) race at Ascot (Copper Horse Stakes). I have no idea which direction we will take now.
Curtis then completed a double in the Betfred Supports Jack Berry House Handicap aboard the Marco Botti-trained Silver Samurai, which could also be bound for Royal Ascot.
If he enters Wokingham this is the race we will go for, definitely
Revealing a fortnight after winning gold in Newbury, the 7-1 shot started late to deprive Music Society of a length.
Botti said: “I thought he was impressive today and I think we’ve found the key for him now – he needs to be ridden cold.
“The Wokingham Stakes at Royal Ascot is what we were looking at but before today he was only ranked 92 and needed a lot of horsepower to run.
“Hopefully now that he’s won again he could put on a few pounds. If he comes to Wokingham, that’s the race we’ll go for, definitely.
Ralph Beckett and Jim Crowley teamed up to win the first betfred.com Sankey Handicap, with Jimi Hendrix shooting 6-1 best at home to beat He’s a Gentleman by one length.
Crowley said: “He stuck well and his last furlong was his best furlong – he hit the line well.
“He will probably go a little further. He didn’t make my life easy, but we finally got there.
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