The third All-Weather Championships at Lingfield on Friday crowned a suitable champion as Grendisar, a stalwart of the winter circuit who has not raced on turf for nearly three years, claimed the £124,500 first prize in the Coral Easter Classic, the feature event on the card.
Marco Botti’s six-year-old finished third behind Tryster, who runs in the $6m Dubai Turf at Meydan on Saturday, in last year’s race and set off as the 4-6 favourite to follow up his victory in the Winter Derby over the same course and distance in February.
Adam Kirby settled Grendisar on the outside of the field and for a moment it seemed he might struggle to run down Metropol in the straight after the French challenger quickened into the lead. Grendisar found extra inside the final furlong, however, and passed the post a length in front of Fire Fighting, who edged out Metropol for second.
Kirby, who like his mount works tirelessly on the all-weather circuit, was winning the feature event of the winter season for the first time.
“I can’t explain what it means to me, slogging it out all winter,” Kirby said. “You put a lot of graft in.
“Unfortunately I missed out on the all-weather [jockeys’] championship but it’s just nice to get on to a good horse like this and for him to show how good he is.”
Alben Star, first and then second in the All-Weather Sprint Championship in the last two seasons, made it two out of three under a well-judged ride by David Nolan. Richard Fahey’s eight-year-old finished a length behind Pretend in 2015 with Ryan Moore in the saddle but, with Moore in Dubai before World Cup night, Nolan delivered Alben Star with a perfectly timed challenge to beat Lancelot Du Lac by two and a quarter lengths with Goken, the 5-2 favourite, another three-quarters of a length back in third.
“Richard has fancied him for a long time,” Nolan said. “This is the sort of race where they go very quick and he needs a bit of time to find his feet. If they go quick enough, he will come home.”
Pia Brandt’s Chantilly stable, responsible for Metropol, had had a winner on Finals Day last year. This time Ireland recorded a first success at the meeting when Tracey Collins’s Captain Joy improved on last year’s third-place finish in the Mile. Ridden by the seven-times Irish champion Pat Smullen, Captain Joy was quickly away and soon tracking the leader, Captain Cat, before staying on strongly to beat Sovereign Debt by half a length.
