Beat The Bon’s victory at 17/2 in the £150,000 Unibet Golden Mile Handicap gave trainer Richard Hannon the second leg of a 122.5/1 double, following Billesdon Brook’s success in the opening G3 Theo Fennell Oak Tree Stakes.
The three-year-old Wootton Bassett colt, ridden by Pat Dobbs, broke the course record for a mile in 1min 35.28s – the second record set this afternoon after Billesdon Brook took the seven-furlong record. He finished a length ahead of 25/1 chance Vale Of Kent.
Hannon said: “He got the mile lovely and Pat suits him. You have got to give a lot of credit to [former Jump jockey] Timmy Murphy, who is a big man riding out in a lot of outfits. He is a little bit different, he got this horse to relax and, now he is relaxed, I would say that he would get a Gold Cup trip. He obviously won’t, but Timmy gets them switched off.
“I don’t know where Dobbsy was going up the inside but he won very well. I have always told [owners] Jared Sullivan and Charlie Noell that I thought that he was a good horse, but they said ‘don’t give us that flannel!’ They are going to have to take it back now because I am right and they are wrong for a change.
“He is entered in the Celebration Mile [G2, Goodwood, August 24] and I think it will be something like that. I definitely think handicaps are over now and he is a lovely horse for next year
“Ross Doyle bought him as a yearling in Deauville and always talked a lot about him and how good he is, and slowly he’s starting to look like that horse.”
DOBBS GIVES CREDIT TO MURPHY AS BEAT LE BON DELIVERS SECOND BIG GOODWOOD WIN
Winning rider Pat Dobbs gave much of the credit to former Jump jockey Timmy Murphy after steering well-backed Beat Le Bon (15/2) to a length victory over Vale Of Kent in the £150,000 Unibet Golden Mile Handicap.
It was the fourth win of the season for Richard Hannon’s progressive three-year-old, who benefitted from an inside draw in stall 3 and broke Spectait’s 13-year-old course record of 1m 35.38s. It was his second big handicap success this year at Goodwood, with the three-year-old Wootton Bassett colt having taken the seven-furlong £100,000 Betfair Each-Way Edge Handicap on May 25.
Dobbs said: “Timmy Murphy rides him at home and he’s done a brilliant job. He’s switched him right off and he’s all the better for it. He was very keen at home and now he’s the opposite, and he’s filling out because he’s enjoying his training more and getting better in his head.
“Richard doesn’t get stuck into him and lets Timmy tip away with him. He’s a horse who needs keeping sweet. And he doesn’t need much work.”
Dobbs added: “I didn’t have much option from where I was drawn. I was following Tom Marquand but he was on and off the bridle, so I didn’t want to follow him for much longer. I went to go earlier and the gap closed a little bit but, once it opened up, he quickened up super.
“I think Ryan came and tightened up Andrea as I went by but my horse showed a great turn of foot. That is the best he has felt, so he is obviously on the way up.
“I always said to Richard that he wanted a mile. The last day at Haydock, he switched off a bit too well with me and I got a bit too far back but he did well to get me out of trouble and get up and win.
“He’s got a serious turn of foot and got me there in five strides. He’s obviously improving. I won a £100,000 handicap on him six weeks ago, so he’s been good to me.”
DRAW DEFEATS KENT
The Mark Johnston-trained 25/1 chance Vale of Kent came home a length second to 17/2 winner Beat Le Bon in the £150,000 Unibet Golden Mile Handicap.
Charlie Johnston, assistant to his father Mark, commented: “The draw (17) is what has beaten us. You watch the winners run round, and Beat Le Bon has saved every inch of space, every step of the way. We have had to use up quite a lot of petrol in the first furlong and a half to get across from where we were drawn.
“It is a bit insulting really to go off at 25/1, as the horse won the Bunbury Cup a few weeks ago. He didn’t like the soft ground at Ascot last weekend, but he has shown he is in real rude health this summer.
“We know he is ideally a seven furlong horse, but we thought that on this turning track and fast ground we might get away with it. I think we would have done with a better draw – when Mr Hannon’s were drawn three and four, and we were drawn 17 and 19, I thought there was a bit of local favouritism!
“He has run a monster race from where he was drawn.
“The Judmonte International meeting at York might be next. York is another track where he might just get away with a mile – he can race aggressively there and still get home. On the right track, on the right ground, he can just get way with a mile.”
Jockey Franny Norton added: “He has run a good race, but he will be better when he comes back in trip. He has run a bit keen early and that has taken a bit of juice out of him. We had a difficult draw, but we have run well.”
Result
3.00pm Unibet Golden Mile Handicap, 1m
1 Beat Le Bon (Sullivan B’Stock/ Merriebelle Irish Farm) Richard Hannon 3-8-13 Pat Dobbs 17/2
2 Vale Of Kent (Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum) Mark Johnston 4-9-03 Franny Norton 25/1
3 Escobar (Withernsea Thoroughbred Limited) David O’Meara 5-9-03 David O’Meara 10/1
4 Seniority (Her Majesty The Queen) William Haggas 5-9-03 Ryan Moore 10/1
100/30 fav Mojito (6th)
20 ran
Time: 1m 35.28s (course record)
Distances: 1, 1, ½
Tote Win: £11.50 Places: £2.90, £5.40, £2.00, £3.00 Exacta: £282.60
Breeding: b c Wootton Bassett (GB) – Frida La Blonde (FR) (Elusive City (USA))
Breeder: Gestut Zur Kuste Ag
Richard Hannon – 49th Goodwood winner (16th at Qatar Goodwood Festival)
Pat Dobbs – 53rd Goodwood winner (3rd at Qatar Goodwood Festival)