'They can have another crack at us' - The Ridler's owner sets out Group 1 plans

The Ridler will seek to continue the fairytale success of Steve Bradley after the owner outlined a trio of top-level targets this season for the shock 50-1 Norfolk winner.

The Richard Fahey-trained colt became the biggest-priced winner of the Royal Ascot Group 2 race under a controversial ride from Paul Hanagan, the pair veering across the field and the jockey picking up a ten-day suspension.

However, Bradley believes an ambitious end to the season, beginning with the Prix Morny on August 21, will give The Ridler's rivals plenty of opportunity to take on the two-year-old again.

"I can understand why the people in second felt the way they did, I would have been upset too," Bradley said. "However, he was winning by nearly two lengths, so they couldn't take the race off him.

"At the end of the day the stewards were quite clear, and I don't think he interfered with the horse that finished third. It is what it is, the result stands. He's going to race again this year, so they can have another crack at us."

Bradley has 25 horses in training, 14 of them with Richard Fahey, who also landed the Norfolk-Morny double with Perfect Power last year.

The Ridler: will bid to end the season at the Breeders' Cup meetingCredit: Mark Cranham (racingpost.com/photos)

Perfect Power went on from his Deauville triumph to land the Middle Park Stakes at Newmarket, a route Bradley is eager to replicate with his homebred colt.

The season would be capped off with a tilt at the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint in November, for which an automatic berth is awarded to the Norfolk winner.

"I spoke to Richard on Monday and the clear ground is we'll get him ticking over and definitely go for the Prix Morny," Bradley said.

"I would love to go for the Middle Park Stakes and then it's the Breeders' Cup. That's a clear route and he's a young, green horse that's run four times already, so we wouldn't want to run him more than three [more] times this year.

"The Breeders' Cup is a massive challenge; the race is the domain of Wesley Ward, a man who specialises in that type of horse. Whether our fella will be quick enough at the gate – because that's what that race is all about – Richard has some work to do there, but we can't turn the opportunity down."

Bradley is still reeling from his first Royal Ascot victory, which he enjoyed last Thursday with his daughter and two sons, but was mystified at the 50-1 starting price.

Bradley said: "Everyone marked him down because of his bad run last time but if it hadn't been for a bad draw he would have won. I think anything under 20-1 for the Norfolk would have been fair. Some people even picked up 80-1 at best odds guaranteed."

Paul Hanagan celebrates after landing the Group 2 Norfolk StakesCredit: Edward Whitaker

The win also marked a significant boost for his breeding operation, run under the banner of Smarden Thoroughbreds, which produced their first Royal Ascot runner three years ago with The Ridler's half-brother, Dylan De Vega.

"It's incredible and I'm still on a high really," the owner added. "Things like that don't happen to normal people like us. It was the highlight of 50-60 years of pottering about thinking you had a horse, even though you only had a leg and it never won anything.

"The biggest impact for me is looking at the base of the trophy and seeing the kind of names that are on it. It puts it in to a different perspective.

"That race has such a rich history and there are people who have spent a lifetime trying to win it and not getting anywhere near. Yet we turn up with our little bag of tricks and bang, you're in there straight away. It's unbelievable."

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