CROUCH-ING TIGER
HECTOR CROUCH was rightly chuffed with his Lingfield four-timer on Saturday evening.
“Thanks for all the kind messages! Means the world. An unbelievable night,” he tweeted before going to bed.
Gary Moore’s up-and-coming apprentice rode two winners for his boss – Hermosa Vaquera and Sussex Ranger – before scoring on Hiorne Tower for John Best and Arctic Flower for veteran John Bridger.
“Before tonight I was a bit frustrated with how things were going,” Crouch said. “I expected it to be going a little better, but it is a big boost so hopefully things will start to pick up.
“It takes something like that to get your name in the paper and provide some attention.”
Crouch’s wins did not surprise Daily Star tipsters. All four were picked for their respective races by either myself or Starform.
Crouch showed the tenacity of a tiger on Arctic Flower, digging deep to hold the challenge of Kieran O’Neill on the winner’s stablemate Live Dangerously by a fast-diminishing short head.
Oldest
The one-two capped a good night for Bridger who ran the oldest Flat horse in training, Megalala, in the opener. The 16-year-old tried to lead from pilar to post but struggled in the mud and had to settle for sixth behind Crouch’s first winner. George Michael’s father, Jack Panos, inset, was on hand to see the gelding he has with Bridger make his debut. The veteran breeder’s Aegean Legend made good late headway to finish a length off Ragstone View and Bodybuilder in the only two-year-old race on the card.
“Jack was happy with that and it was a promising start,” said Bridger. “She did not have too hard a race and you would expect her to learn a lot from the run.”
Panos – real name Kyriacos Panayiotou – likes starting his horses at Lingfield. Persidha was a promising third at the Surrey track in 2011 before going on to win there the following year.
Hiorne Tower was the third winner of the day for his trainer and his ninth of the month.
Best was absent from the postrace celebrations, having been at Chester to see Berrahri and Glenys The Menace win the final two handicaps on the card, with stable jockey Kieren Fox up.
“Glenys The Menace is a decent size and improving all the time,” said her trainer. “The horses are going well so we’ll get them out while we can. We run Eddystone Rock at Goodwood on Tuesday with Kieren up.”