3 minute read
Franny Norton completed a quickfire double in the first two races at Chester's May meeting when springing a 50-1 surprise on Good Morning Star for enthusiastic local owner Dr Marwan Koukash in the Weatherbys Bank Cheshire Oaks.
Betterbetterbetter looked like landing the spoils for trainer Aidan O'Brien when his son Joseph kicked on just over a furlong out after a tussle with Everlong on the turn for home.
However, the 2-1 favourite's stride started to shorten and the pack closed with Mark Johnston's charge getting up in the shadow of the post to score by a short head. The well-backed Cubanita was a length and three-quarters back in third.
Koukash said: "Last year I had to wait until the second day to have a winner so it's great. Good Morning Star was my only social runner of the meeting. I rang Mark up and suggested we ran her as I had nothing else that would stay a mile and a half.
"Franny gave her a fantastic ride and I turned to my friend I was watching the race with and said she didn't look like a 50-1 chance. I had been looking for a claimer for her but we'll probably take her to Royal Ascot now over a mile and a half (Ribblesdale) and see what happens. She's a very valuable filly now and we'll keep her to breed off."
Johnston said: "We'll have to go home now and take stock (with regard to plans). If it wasn't for Dr Koukash she wouldn't have been running here. I think he would rather win this than the Epsom Oaks and she was the best we had. We took our chance and it was an inspired decision."
O'Brien said of the runner-up: "I was delighted with her run. She's green and lazy at home and she would have learned a lot from today. She was just a little idle when she got there, but she's run a great race and Joseph was delighted with her. We brought her here to find out if she was an Oaks filly and on what I have seen, I couldn't say she isn't."
Ralph Beckett said of Cubanita: "It was a good run but she was awkward round those bends and she just didn't look happy. Importantly she picked up some black type and any day a filly does that is a good day."
