English/Ire
Burke has Ebor aspirations with new recruit Almosh’her
Karl Burke will be working back from the Ebor with Almosh’her after the four-year-old made a winning stable debut in The Sky Bet Race To The Ebor Jorvik Stakes at York on Wednesday.
A two-time winner from three starts on the all-weather for his former handler Charlie Fellowes, Almosh'her was sent off a 15/2 chance to make his first outing for Karl Burke a winning one.
Always towards the fore under Clifford Lee, the son of Sea The Stars, who had raced freely in the early stages, struck the front passing the two-furlong marker. The David O'Meara-trained Stressfree emerged from the pack to throw down a stern challenge in the final furlong and although he almost certainly drew level close home, he failed to get past Almosh'her, who stuck his head down for Clifford Lee to score by a head.
Plage de Havre finished back in third, while Paradias was a spot further behind having suffered a slightly troubled passage under Rossa Ryan.
"That's a good start to the season here, hopefully it continues!
"He got sent to us from Charlie's, who had done very well with him so it's unfortunate for him, but we can only deal with what is put in front of us.
"He's a lovely horse but he's still a big baby and came with a reputation of being a live-wire. He has settled into our routine and is better than when he first came, but we didn't know what he'd be like at the races. He's done things ok but hopefully he'll get better."
The twelve-furlong handicap was a win-and-you're-in race for Sky Bet Ebor back here in August, with Burke now keen to work back from the valuable staying handicap.
He added: "That was a win-and-you're-in for the Ebor, so we'll be working back from that if he stays that sort of trip, but he needs to learn to race properly."
Later on the card, local trainer Ruth Carr enjoyed success when Rousing Encore struck to odds of 22/1 to defeat Dark Thirty by a length and a quarter.
"When you're a Yorkshire lass, it's proper! I've only had a handful of winners here – if you don't have a runner at York, you don't have a winner at York, but you tend to think you can find an easier race somewhere else as we have plenty of tracks in Yorkshire," said Carr.
She added: "I thought we were probably drawn on the wrong side today and he likes some cover, but we didn't want to be too far back as it's hard to make up ground on a fast track and fast ground.
"But Jimmy (Sullivan) gave him a lovely ride and edged over onto the rail. I thought 'this is looking good' as he was travelling and the horse put his head down and battled well.
"We can look at races like the Great St Wilfrid (at Ripon) and there are plenty of other good six-furlong races for us to go at."
Check out the latest Singapore News