'This is a big deal' - Relief win for Marquand as Haggas filly banishes memory of Ascot near-miss

Tom Marquand said he was heartbroken when Relief Rally was touched off in a photo-finish at Royal Ascot, but it was more like singing in the rain for the leading rider after the same filly landed a soggy running of the £250,000 Weatherbys Super Sprint. 

Far from a sore loser, Marquand said it was the fact that he was in front just before and just after the line in the Group 2 Queen Mary Stakes, yet touched off by nose to Crimson Advocate on it, that left him in the doldrums for so long. 

The silver lining was that defeat at Ascot meant Relief Rally escaped an 8lb penalty in the Super Sprint and, while even-money in a 20-runner race could hardly be classed as value, it proved to be entirely the right price as she outclassed her rivals in the double green silks of Simon Munir and Isaac Souede.

"Ascot genuinely broke my heart," said Marquand. "If I'd never got there and was beaten a head it would have hurt, but the fact she'd got it won a stride before the line is what hurt the most. 

"Winning the Super Sprint is a big deal and this filly won't be remembered for what happened at Ascot now, which is great. I thought we were drawn on the wrong side before the race but, to be perfectly honest, I think you could have put her anywhere on the track today and she'd have won. 

"When we went down to the two-furlong pole there wasn't anything scaring me, which is a rare feeling in a race like that and shows her class."

Daryll Jacob (left), Tom Marquand and William Haggas after Relief Rally's successCredit: Edward Whitaker

"The winner holds an entry in the Coolmore Nunthorpe Stakes at York on August 25, but while a trip to the Knavesmire does beckon, winning trainer William Haggas felt the Nunthorpe might not be her race.

"I doubt it," said Haggas when quizzed on the Group 1. "We had a filly win this race a long time ago called Superstar Leo and she went for the Phoenix Stakes, then the Flying Childers and then the Prix de l'Abbaye, and I'd I quite fancy the Abbaye and maybe have a go at the Lowther [at York] before.

"She was just beaten in the Queen Mary and, first and foremost, we need to make her a Stakes winner and then we can enjoy her."

On a potential clash with older sprinters in the Abbaye at Longchamp on October 1, Haggas said: "If you get a low draw in the Abbaye it's such an advantage so if our luck is in at that time of year, we'll get a low draw. Tom said they were as much as five lengths clear at one stage over on the far side today, but she picked up good and her last furlong was strong."

If she were to take in the Abbaye it is not out of the question that it could be Marquand's wife Hollie Doyle in the saddle as her husband would be unable to do the low weight required, but he certainly felt Relief Rally was well capable of holding her own against her elders. 

"I wouldn't be afraid of it and it would be selfish for me to say otherwise," Marquand added. "She's as straightforward as you like, she's fast and, if you're taking on older horses, that's all you want."  

Richard Hannon fielded seven as he searched for a fifth win in the Super Sprint, and 33-1 chance Dapperling fared best of his team in second. Rider Sean Levey said: "She ran a blinder and has plenty of speed and a great mentality. She's a nice, scopey filly who is going the right way."

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