Trainer says 'we're going for it' and backs Savvy Victory for Cambridgeshire

Sean Woods fancies Savvy Victory to go well in his bid for victory in Newmarket’s Cambridgeshire Handicap on Saturday, with the three-year-old and 10-1 chance to be ridden by Ryan Moore.

Savvy Victory picked up a 4lb penalty for his win in a 1m2f Goodwood handicap last month and the Newmarket trainer believes he can back that up with another success in the always-competitive handicap.

He said: “I was very happy with his performance last time. He picked up a 4lb penalty for the run because of the weights for the Cambridgeshire, but that’s fine.

"He’s coming back in trip [to 1m1f] and running off a fair mark – this is a handicap – but we’re going for it and we hope he can get us the win. Provided we get a bit of rain, we’ve got a good chance.”

Moore's booking on the Julian Hui-owned colt is another string to his bow.

Woods said: “Ryan’s ridden for me for many years all over the world, he’s had one ride for us this year and won so it’s a very fine booking to have.”

Back on the map

It has been a solid season for Woods, who is still in the early stages of establishing his newly assembled team of horses back on home soil after returning from a near 20-year stint in Hong Kong in 2020.

A return of 11 winners from 105 runners in 2021 has been easily surpassed this year, with the yard up to 31 winners at a 24 per cent strike-rate. Woods is rightly proud of his achievements with a relatively small team.

He added: “We just try to do the best we can for these horses. We keep low numbers, this year it was below 50, next year it will stay below 60, and I’m trying to run this stable like that.

“We have to be very good in everything we do because we don’t have the numbers to compete with the giant yards – we just do our best with what we’ve got.

“It’s been a decent season for us. Our percentages are very high, the most important percentage for me is our place percentage and I think we’re hitting about 58 per cent in the first four – so we’re very pleased with that. We’ve got a really nice group of horses.”

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