Midgley hits Musselburgh heights

● Line Of Reason part of lucrative double for trainer

Despite Royal Ascot being just a matter of days away, there were still some quality horses on show at the weekend, with Paul Midgley taking top training honours at Musselburgh on Saturday.

The Westow trainer is a dab hand with sprinters and his Line Of Reason won the £100,000 William Hill Scottish Sprint Cup Handicap.

Just for good measure, Midgley also won the consolation race with Orient Class, worth a not-to-be-sniffed-at £40,000.

Line Of Reason had dropped to an attractive handicap mark but only just got up to beat Harry Hurricane by a neck.

“That was great. He’s always been a good horse but we just lost him for a bit in Dubai [over the winter] and after he came back, it’s just taken a while to get him back,” said Midgley.

“The Rockingham in Ireland [2 July at the Curragh] would be the race for him.”

There was also a valuable sprint at York and those canny Easterbys have never been too keen on seeing money leave the county. This time, it was Tim who struck with Golden Apollo. The North Yorkshire handler was delighted a longterm plan had paid off to give him a fifth win in the Catherine Kinloch Paver Memorial Macmillan Charity Handicap.

It had not been without its scares, though, as Easterby was forced to run Golden Apollo at Pontefract on Monday and just prayed he won to ensure his place in the field.

A5lbpenaltyforthatsuccess, as well as being drawn wide in stall one, failed to dampen Easterby’s confidence and Golden Apollo (5-1) delivered in style under James Sullivan to deny bottom weight The Wagon Wheel. Easterby said: “I’d like to run him in the Ayr Gold Cup one day, but it would have to be soft.”

Josephine Gordon produced Arabian Hope with a well-timed run to land the Listed honours in the Ganton Stakes, while Battaash showed his rivals a clean set of hooves as he triumphed in the Scurry Stakes at Sandown.

All eyes were on Chantilly yesterday for the French Oaks, with Aidan O’brien’s Rhododendron and the John Gosden-trained Shutter Speed sent to take on the home team.

Thingsdidnotgoasplanned, however, with 1000 Guineas and Epsom Oaks runner-up Rhododendron pulling up after reportedly bleeding from the nose. Shutter Speed looked well placed to challenge in the straight, but faded into fourth as victory went to Pascal Bary’s Senga, ridden by Stephane Pasquier, pictured It was not all bad news on the continent for the British challenge, with Hugo Palmer’s Unforgetable Filly claiming Classic glory in the German 1000 Guineas. Palmer and jockey James Doyle were winning back-to-back renewals of the Group Two after Hawksmoor had struck 12 months ago.