Perfect Part causes shock 125-1 wicket in Hilary Needler Trophy

James Doyle

English jockey James Doyle wins the Dubai Duty-Free race with Cityscape during the Dubai World Cup at the Meydan race track in the Gulf emirate on March 31, 2012. 

Photo credit: Marwan Naamani | AFP

Debutante, Perfect Part, (Cam Hardie 25-1), provided local owner, Keith Brown, a delightful gift, as he had been trying to win the 1,000 Hilary Needler Trophy, for 50 years. Perfect Part, who only cost $12,000, set aside seven seasoned youngsters, as a proponent for Royal Ascot.

Maw Lamb (Paddy Mathers 7-2), was the victim by half-a-length, because, he had endured a nightmare run after missing the break and getting stuck behind. Conditioned by Brian Ellison, Perfect Part's biggest attribute, apart from speed, is her willingness to shoot from the stalls like a rocket.

***

Shareholder (James Doyle 6-4), who cost €460,000, by comparison, is 4-1 for the Norfolk Stakes, after making a winning debut for Karl Burke - he has leading contenders for virtually all sophomore races at Royal Ascot.

Heading off Moving Force, in the Bet365 Trophy at Beverley, Shareholder is definitely one for the notebooks.

***

Betfred Nifty 50 Lester Piggott Fillies' Stakes (Group 3) (Formerly Known As The Pinnacle Stakes), 1.4 miles, showed Queen of Pride (Oisin Murphy 9-2), shuffle past Lady Boba (Rossa Ryan 6-1), Mistral Star (Clifford Lee 12-1), and, Sea Theme (Tom Marquand 4-1). We had reported that Sea Theme, 2023 winner, had a brave chance, but ran out of steam pulling too much. This can be said of all thirteen runners. They were keen to impress Sir Lester in his heavenly armchair.

***

The Belmont Stakes Day card, spotlighted Dornoch’s success in the 156th Belmont Stakes running. A sellout crowd of 50,000, witnessed history as the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival was held at Saratoga Race Course for the first time to allow for uninterrupted construction of a new Belmont Park. It was 2,060m, instead of 2,400m.

Lovely seeing ten loading - all smoothly and professionally. Dornoch, Seize the Grey, Mind Frame, and, Resilience, began proceedings up front. Sierra Leone (Flavien Prat 9-5), got bounced around after the gate but ran a blinding finish. Dornoch (Luis Saez 17-1), trained by Danny Gargan, managed to hold on from a cannon-shooting Mind Frame (Irad Ortiz Junior 4-1), Sierra Leone, and, Honor Marie.