Ancient Rome (33/1) made the perfect start to his new career with Charlie Hills by coming from last to first to land the Coral Chesterfield Cup Handicap.
The four-year-old colt joined Hills’ stable from Andre Fabre only a couple of weeks ago and, thanks to an archetypal Jamie Spencer ride, pounced late to take the 10-furlong handicap by a length.
Haunted Dream (10/1) appeared to have the race in the bag as he skipped into the lead approaching the final furlong but was picked off late by the winner. John Smith’s Cup scorer Pride Of America (8/1) was third under joint top-weight.
Ancient Rome was beaten a head in the G1 Criterium International as a juvenile and also finished fourth in last season’s Poule d’Essai des Poulains.
Hills said: “I have not had Ancient Rome very long – he has only been with us a couple of weeks – but he is a very laidback individual. Jim and Fitri Hay [owners] are big supporters of this meeting, so we thought we’d give him a go, and it has paid off.
“When we saw the draw [16] I thought, ‘it doesn’t look good’, but there was only one way to do it, which was to give him a chance and try to keep down the middle.
“He has some very good form from last year – he was fourth in the French Guineas and, while he’s obviously come down the handicap, we’ll probably aim a little bit higher with him. That should have given him some confidence now.”
Spencer said: “Ancient Rome has only had one run at ten furlongs before, and that was in the French Derby [finished ninth of 15]. We thought off a mark of 105 having been fourth in the French Guineas that he had a chance.
“He has only been at Charlie’s for a couple of weeks after coming from Monsieur Fabre’s, so we weren’t sure how he was going to run, but I knew going past the three-furlong pole I would be in the first four. I protected him for as long as I could thinking about his stamina, but he found plenty.
“He is a very lazy horse – you ask him and he’ll go for three or four strides, then he’s lazy again. Even at the line he pricked his ears and kind of jammed [the brakes] on, so he’s a hard horse to assess.
“I rode Haunted Dream at Sandown two starts ago and just got beaten – he’s a smart horse and I thought he was a stakes horse, so I’m sure Ancient Rome will be capable of at least Listed company. There is nothing like winning for a horse’s confidence. He hasn’t won since he was a two-year-old, so hopefully now his confidence is back and we can see where we go from here.
“Jim and Fitri [Hay] don’t live too far away from here so they aim a lot of horses at this meeting and it’s good for them to have a winner. It’s a bit of a surprise, but I’ll take it.
“The ground is energy-sapping and a shower of rain would help loosen it up a bit, but it’s the same for everyone.”
Haunted Dream’s rider Daniel Muscutt said: “He ran a super race – he has been very consistent all year – and just got nabbed. Everything went really smoothly, we got a nice rail run, saved loads of ground and he tried hard.”
Pride Of America’s trainer Amy Murphy said: “We are absolutely delighted to come back and run like he did in the John Smith’s Cup. The ground probably is just drying a bit against him, but he likes it proper soft. I am absolutely delighted to see him be in the first three here in such another big handicap. He has given his owners great fun and we are just very lucky to train him.”
On what he’s been up to at home since York, Murphy added: “Nearly throwing me off most days! I ride him myself most days. He has done very little between here and York, we’ve just freshened him up. He is a star and we are just lucky to have him. Horses like him are what you want – you want to be at the big days.”