'There wasn't much room' - Commanche Falls squeezes through in time to reward favourite backers in Hackwood

With the wind and rain in his face and a wall of horses in front of him, the outlook looked pretty bleak for Commanche Falls with two furlongs to run in the bet365 Hackwood Stakes. 

But you don't win two Stewards' Cups if you suffer from claustrophobia and the 4-1 favourite did his best impression of Harry Houdini to poke his head between long-time leader Cold Case and runner-up Diligent Harry in the nick of time to register a narrow success under Connor Beasley. 

"Between the three and the two-furlong marker I felt like I was getting a bit stuck in the ground," said the winning rider. "He does race behind the bridle but normally you can keep your momentum going, whereas today I felt like I wasn't getting any momentum. 

"There wasn't much room and I just had to switch him to get him to think again and once he did that he really put his head down. I thought he did it nicely in the end."

Trained in County Durham by Michael Dods, Commanche Falls has been partnered by Beasley in 29 of his 32 career starts, with the duo registering 11 wins together, and the part the six-year-old has played in his career wasn't lost on the winning rider. 

"He's a massive horse to me and the team," said Beasley. "The world is his oyster if you ask me and he's obviously improving with age."

Commanche Falls races in the same ownership as his prolific stablemate Dakota Gold and the family link has worked wonders for joint-owner Doug Graham, who shares the winner with Ian Davison and Alan Drysdale.

"He's been brilliant for us," said Graham. "Two Stewards' Cups, a Listed race in Ireland and now a Group 3. We only really bought him because he's a half-brother to Dakota Gold and it's paid dividends.  

"He's a cracking horse, always gives 100 per cent, is very consistent and stays very sound, so we've got no complaints. We'd have liked to have gone for a third Stewards' Cup but he's doing too well in Group races. 

"We're looking at a Group 3 at the Curragh on August 12 [Phoenix Sprint Stakes] but if the rain was any worse than today he probably wouldn't go. He just got home today but he's a lot better on good and good to firm."

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