Fortune favours Bravery of bookies
DAVID O’Meara’s new recruit Bravery saved the bookmaking industry a monster payout when denying Ryan Moore on Oh This Is Us in the Betway Lincoln on the opening day of the Flat season at Doncaster.
Moore’s popularity with punters knows no bounds, and having won the first three races of the day on Town Moor, his Richard Hannon-trained mount was backed off the boards into 7-2 favouritism, having been readily available at 14-1 in the morning.
Most of the money was built up in the form of accumulators, and with Moore starting the season with a bang, the bookies feared the worst.
No doubt plenty of the layers will now be sending champagne Danny Tudhope’s way.
Drawn in stall 20, Tudhope decided to miss the break intentionally, heading over to the opposite side of the track and forfeiting ground in light of the result of the Lincoln consolation race, when all the placed horses were drawn low.
For the first half of the race it appeared the wrong move as Zhui Feng led from stall 13, but with two furlongs to run, those on the far side once again had the advantage and Moore hit the front on Oh This Is Us.
Formerly with Aidan O’Brien, O’Meara parted with 44,000 guineas to get the Irish Guineas-fourth Bravery, and it now looks money well spent as he prevailed by a neck.
O’Meara said of the 20-1 winner: “I thought it was a fantastic ride. After the Spring Mile, Danny said he was going to bite the bullet and take him over to the far side. He pur- posefully missed the break, which helped get him settled, and he made a beeline to get over there.
“He’d been working with Mondialiste and Custom Cut and when he (Custom Cut) ran well earlier I thought he’d run a big race.
“I’ll talk about plans with his owner but hopefully he can go back up in class.”
Moore began the day by winning the Listed Cammidge Trophy on Hannon’s Tupi, who streaked to a four-length success over Captain Colby.
Hannon said of the 7-1 chance: “We’ll look at the Duke of York now, and he might have an entry in the Abernant (Newmarket).
“He does pick his days, though, and he can throw in the odd shocker.”
The Spring Mile went to Sir Michael Stoute’s Ballet Concerto (8-1), who defied top weight to beat Sinfonietta by three-quarters of a length.
Moore then produced a masterclass to win on Hannon’s Kool Kompany (7-1) in the Doncaster Mile.
The 2015 Craven winner has had an unsuccessful spell in Australia but has retained all his ability, getting up in the final stride to beat last year’s Craven scorer Stormy Antarctic.
“I didn’t fancy him at all because he didn’t work great in the week and I thought he’d be too fresh,” said Hannon.
“The Group Two at Sandown (bet365 Mile) looks the next obvious race as we’ll build backwards from the Queen Anne (Royal Ascot) and the Lockinge, too.”