The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Johnston hope shows real promise
Mark Johnston is keen to find out whether Faithful Promise could be Royal Ascot material after opening her account in impressive fashion at Musselburgh yesterday.
The daughter of Acclamation finished well-beaten on her racecourse debut at Wolverhampton last month, but raised her game to finish a close second at Ripon a couple of weeks later.
She was a 2-1 shot to make it third time lucky in the Weatherbys Bank British Stallion Studs EBF Maiden Stakes under Joe Fanning and there did not appear to be any fluke about her two-and-a-quarter-length success over 4-6 favourite Shobrom.
Johnston said: “I thought she ran very well at Ripon and to be honest I couldn’t understand why the other filly (Shobrom) was such a short price. I felt our form was at least equal to hers.
“It’s no surprise to see her win and you can see she’s crying out for another furlong. We’re hoping the best is yet to come.
“With any horse that wins a twoyear-old race at this time of year, you wonder whether they could go on to Royal Ascot or not.
“I don’t think she’s done enough to go there yet, but we’ll be looking for a stepping-stone somewhere to see whether she’s up to it.”
Johnston and Fanning went on to complete a quick-fire double with 13-2 chance Thomas Cranmer and Fanning finished the day with a treble after steering Les Eyre’s 5-4 favourite Cosmic Ray to victory.