3 minute read

Richard Fahey's charge danced his way to victory in the opening contest at York on Saturday.

The dual course winner was stepping out of handicap company for the first time but arrived in excellent form following victories at this venue and at Windsor.

Danny Tudhope opted to take his mount Flight Plan to the far side where he'd race solo down the straight, whilst Ryan Moore led the rest of the field down the near side on the 5/6 favourite Nostrum.

Moore asked the market leader for extra approaching the two-furlong marker but there was no response and Nostrum dropped away tamely before being eased out of contention. Sprint Dancer (6/1) soon took up the running of those towards the near side, but Flight Plan still held the overall advantage racing well away from the others. However, the complexion of the contest changed dramatically inside the final furlong, and it was Spirit Dancer who took control late on to score by a length under Oisin Orr from the running on El Drama (13/2).

Flight Plan (18/1) finished back in third whilst Nostrum was found to be lame on his left-hind leg.

Speaking with ITV Racing, trainer Richard Fahey said: "Horses for courses, a lot of people say it, but he just loves this place. At the moment he loves everywhere though, he won at Windsor last time, he's in the form of his life and I'm delighted for Sir Alex Ferguson, Ged Mason and their team. They've been very patient with him. He's quite a big horse and was a little immature but he's grown into the finished article now and is improving all the time,"

"I have the Bahrain Trophy in mind for him now, it's a $1million race. I had it in mind before today and that will definitely be one of his targets."