My Cloud (3/1F) continued his rise through the ranks as he snatched victory from Bullet Point in the Royal Hunt Cup, with the pair racing on opposite sides of the track.
Favourite backers were made to sweat as My Cloud raced in rear of the stands’ side group for much of the mile handicap. However, Silvestre de Sousa managed to pick his way through the field, ultimately getting up to beat Bullet Point by three-quarters of a length. Bopedro (50/1), who is owned by Brighton footballer Georginio Rutter, and Greek Order (22/1) filled the minor places.
My Cloud, who has now won four of his six starts for Roger Varian, is the shortest-priced winner of the Royal Hunt Cup in modern times. He is a half-brother to five-time Group 1 winner Palace Pier, who won the St James’s Palace Stakes and Queen Anne Stakes at this meeting.
Varian said: “We have had to be patient with My Cloud, because he had a few niggles as a young horse, so we couldn’t get as busy on a racecourse as we’d like aged two and three. He only really got racing at the end of last year, but he has done well this year and it’s a great team effort at home. There are a lot of people to thank regarding this horse, the main person is the owner, His Highness Shaikh Khalid, who has been most patient.
“I will have to watch it again. I was on the bank, watching it through the binoculars on a screen, and it was hard to tell how far back he was early. But I was at pains to tell Silvestre not to be in a rush with him, because races on the straight mile develop late and this horse has a lot of class. I thought he would move through the race well, and I’m looking forward to watching it back.
“We have to hope he will keep progressing. I thought that was a mighty performance for an inexperienced horse. We will see how he is when we get him home. We hope he is a horse who could progress out of handicaps and into Group company. He has had three races now this season and this will have taken a little bit out of him. So I think we just need to re-group, enjoy today, and we will work it out.”
De Sousa said: “I was just so pleased to be sat on a nice horse like him. You have to keep an eye on the whole race, drawn 32 but I have to look over the whole field with my eyes. He pleased me every furlong. I would say he opened the gaps for me, but he’s such a nice horse and deserved this.
“I think the world of him. He’s got a lot of speed and a lot of talent. A mile is perfect for him so ideally there will be a bit more to come. I think he will take us to places, and I think Roger has big plans for him.”
Bullet Point’s jockey Tom Marquand said: “It feels like gun-point robbery – we did everything the hard way on our side and battled off the other two horses that were with us. I could see Silvestre there, but you can’t account for what’s on the other side. Bullet Point put everything in to the run.”
Greek Order’s trainer Michael Bell said: “Nick [Bell] found him and it was a very shrewd purchase. Had that horse been in the London sale on Monday, he would have made four times what these guys paid for him [$110,000]. He is going to give them a lot of fun. That was a great effort; when Soumillon hit the front two out, I thought, ‘here we go’. And then you could see the favourite in behind had too many gears and is a better horse and better handicapped. Balmoral, Cambridgeshire, all sorts of races, any decent sort of handicap over a mile, a mile and a quarter, he’s going to be in the mix.”