'It's starting to come together nicely' - Brian Meehan aiming for strong autumn as American Tale ends wait for a winner

American Tale provided Brian Meehan with a welcome winner when he claimed the mile nursery. The Tom Marquand-ridden son of Expert Eye picked up well to beat the odds-on Jakima by half a length. 

American Tale's successful handicap debut ended a 47-day spell without a winner for multiple Group 1-winning trainer Meehan.

He said: “We're delighted with him. I thought he was very good and he’s probably come forward for having a break and being gelded. We did expect improvement today.

“Hopefully he can keep progressing if the handicapper doesn’t put him up too much. I thought he won nicely without winning by a big distance."

Despite enjoying Group-race success at the start of the turf season when stable star Isaac Shelby took the Greenham in April, American Tale was just a fourth winner in 2023 for Meehan. The Manton-based trainer has sent out at least 13 winners in every season since 1993 and is hopeful for a strong end to the campaign.

Meehan said: “I suppose this season has been a little bit quiet but we haven’t had as many runners as usual and they're all starting to come together nicely now.”

Solution Strikes

Solution was second on his first two starts in handicap company but relished the step up in trip and the switch to the all-weather to make it third time lucky under Hector Crouch. 

Solution's success in the 2m handicap completed a double for Crouch and trainer Ralph Beckett, whose Mildyjama justified 5-2 favouritism in the preceding 1m3f fillies' handicap.

Do you want £200+ of free bets? Racing Post have got the best offers, all in one place. Visit racingpost.com/freebets to find out more.