'We were really pleased to see her win like that' - Coto De Caza is another Crisford hot-pot after five-length romp

Newmarket, Ascot and now Beverley. Wherever you look, Simon and Ed Crisford seem to be pulling a potential star out of the bag at the moment.

Quddwah put himself in line for a potential Sussex Stakes clash with Rosallion by completing a four-timer in last Saturday's Summer Mile at Ascot, a day after Arabian Dusk had her trainers plotting a crack at the top two-year-old fillies' contests after landing the Duchess of Cambridge Stakes at Newmarket.

The Class 5 fillies' event here lacked the prestige of those two races, but Coto De Caza, a €270,00 breeze-up buy, hinted she could join her stablemates in Pattern company before long as she bolted up by five lengths under Silvestre de Sousa.

"We were really pleased to see her win like that," said joint-trainer Simon Crisford, who had been worried about the rain which had turned conditions soft.

"We were pretty uncertain about the ground for her. I don't think it was really her cup of tea, but she got through it well enough and won really well.

"We'll try to find a race for her down south, and we'll have a look at the Alice Keppel at Goodwood. She was a little bit green first time at Lingfield, where she didn't have any horses on her left-hand side and she drifted left, but today she was more professional and she went straight."

Asked whether her purchase price might turn out money well spent, Crisford said: "She's got to be punching away in stakes races for that to happen, but today gave us every confidence to think she might get to that level."

Reflecting on the yard's good run of form, he added: "Nothing has been straightforward, but the horses seem to be performing a little bit better now and that's the main thing."

Master of his trade

Michael Dods knows more than most about training sprinters and Jack Of Clubs showed the benefit of his specialist knowledge in the 5f handicap.

Victories in two Nunthorpes, two Stewards' Cups and a Prix de l'Abbaye, among many other good races in the last decade, show the trainer has the knack of getting the best out of a speed horse, so it was no surprise that his decision to drop Jack Of Clubs back in trip should lead to the four-year-old ending a losing run that stretched back to last August.

"He was going six furlongs and he was unrideable," the trainer said. "He was too keen. He ran well over five at Musselburgh last time and we were just waiting for the right race and cut in the ground.

"He's a lot easier for the jockeys to ride over five because the pace of the race helps them; over six he gets in behind and he's climbing. Hopefully he can win again at five."

Personal best

Jessica Macey reached a new personal-best prize-money total when landing the £15,000 feature 2m handicap with Believitanducan.

The three-year-old's game success took her trainer's tally for 2024 past £145,000 in her fifth season with a licence.

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