English/Ire
Amiloc takes off to claim Cocked Hat honours
Ralph Beckett looks to have a very smart prospect on his hands after Amiloc sauntered clear to claim the Listed British Stallion Studs EBF Cocked Hat Stakes at Goodwood on Saturday.
A well-backed 11/10 market leader, the Ralph Beckett-trained Amiloc arrives at Goodwood looking to take his record to four from four following three impressive wins, which included a taking performance over ten furlongs at this track earlier in the month,Stepping up a further furlong under Richard Kingscote, Amiloc tended to race lazily towards the rear of the field, giving those who had took the 11/10 plenty of anxious moments in the early stages.
However, once angled wide by Kingscote those anxious moments were soon quashed as the gelded son of Postponed sauntered into contention down the centre of the track before stretching four lengths clear of his front-running stablemate Sir Dinadan.
William Haggas' Oppurtunity, who suffered some trouble in running late on, finished back in third.
The winner is unable to run in the Betfred Derby, but he was cut to 20/1 from 33s for the Coral-Eclipse by Paddy Power, while trainer Ralph Beckett is also keen to look at Royal Ascot next month.
Beckett told Racing TV: "It was not a surprise. Obviously, he's a short-price favourite but when he was racing rather lazily out in the country, I was sort of thinking 'come on pal'.
"But I was never that concerned and then of course when he loomed up on the outside, it was all obvious that it was going to work out that way.
"The second is a good horse, he's tough and I think he's a Queen's Vase horse, and the winner might be a Queen's Vase horse as well, so we've got to shuffle the pack a little bit there and work out what we do next time."
When question if he thought Amiloc could have been a possible Derby contender prior to his gelding operation, Beckett said: "His work has never suggested so, but obviously he races a lot better than his work. I think he's obviously very talented.
"His dam was tricky and some of them out of her were tricky, Brimham Rocks took a long time to get the hang of things before he became a group horse in Australia, there was a Kingman filly who was half mad as well, so it's never been that straightforward.
"So, gelding him early helped him and we'll see what happens. The (King) Edward VII (Stakes at Ascot) is a possibility and we'll put him in everything, he's in the Eclipse, so we'll see, it's a good problem to have."
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