Recently we have been no strangers to having big priced winners, but even they pale in to the background with the eye watering SP of this one.
Royle Steel made his racecourse debut in a bumper at Doncaster last November when finishing a respectable 14 and a half lengths fifth despite having pulled his way to the front through being over keen. Micky has said that Royle Steel is one of the best juvenile jumpers of a hurdle he has had through his hands, and no time was wasted in sending him over hurdles at Wetherby in January, but once again after pulling too hard he weakened away on ground that was also far too soft for him.
At Sedgefield on Wednesday afternoon he was held up out the back in the hands of his regular jockey Alain Cawley. At halfway he looked as if he was going to finish tailed off, but then the penny dropped,as he suddenly made headway from three out, and after hitting the last, he galloped all the way to the line. What was most impressive about the performance was that the horse looked very green, and can only improve for the run.
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Congratulations to the winning connections, A E Tasker.