'He could be very good' - Godolphin's White Wolf impresses Pat Cosgrave

Monday: Southwell

Saeed bin Suroor saddled his first runners at the track since the surface switched to Tapeta and might just have unearthed a smart three-year-old in mile novice debutant scorer White Wolf.

The market suggested a bold show was expected with White Wolf backed into 9-4 favourite (from 4-1) and the imposing colt finished strongly for a half-length win, beating two rivals with previous experience.

White Wolf has long-range entries in the Al Basti Equiworld Dubai Dante Stakes at York and Cazoo Derby at Epsom, and while they remain lofty ambitions, his rider Pat Cosgrave was certainly impressed.

Cosgrave said: “He’s a big, raw individual and was quite coltish at the start and inexperienced early on, but he showed his talent at the end and finished nicely.

“He’s strengthening up and learning all the time and this was a good place to start him off. The vibes were good beforehand and he’s nice. It’s hard to gauge his ability at this stage, but he’s got lots of potential and could be very good.”

White Wolf was Cosgrave’s sole mount and boosted his strike-rate this month to 24 per cent (7-29).

Cosgrave said: “I've had a very good start, I’d been over in Dubai again for Saeed over the winter, had a good Carnival and it’s great to hit form early on back here.”

Debut success

Owners sometimes need that extra push at the sales and Middleham Park Racing were thankful for such encouragement after Eddie’s Boy made a successful debut in the 5f novice.

The athletic colt became the third individual winner for first-season sire Havana Grey with a half-length success under Hollie Doyle and connections were keen to praise trainer Archie Watson.

Hollie Doyle: Eddie's Boy kickstarted a treble for the jockeyCredit: Getty Images

Tom Palin, a partner in Middleham Park Racing, said: “We went to Tattersalls last year with a £40,000 order, someone bid £42,000 and I started bottling it a little bit, so fair play to Archie for giving me a kick in the ribs and making me drive on and go to £45,000 for him!

“Havana Grey has made a great start as a sire and Eddie’s Boy had been pleasing Archie at home – he’s quite fast and been described as having push-button acceleration.”

Eddie’s Boy was the first leg of a treble for Doyle, who also struck on the Phil Kirby-trained Lord Torranaga, the final winner on Fibresand at the track, in the 1m3f handicap and stablemate and fellow former Fibresand scorer Autonomy in the 1m4f handicap.

Notable combo

The Southwell crowd love nothing more than a winner for Hayley Turner at one of her local tracks and she continued her fantastic form for Richard Spencer aboard 7f handicap winner The Mad Monk.

Turner has a 30 per cent strike-rate (6-20) for Spencer this year and said: "It's nice to get involved with Richard, Phil [Cunningham, owner] and the team, they're just fun and easy to get on with. We've had a great start to the year and it's nice to be involved."

Results, replays and analysis

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