Newmarket review: Flying Officer assumes control

A review of the rest of Thursday's action with Flying Officer putting himself in line for a run at British Champions Day.

Flying Officer added to his gains on his seasonal debut at Salisbury earlier this month when successful at Listed class in the Jockey Club Rose Bowl at Newmarket.

Frankie Dettori's mount would have won with greater authority had he not gone for a little wander inside the final 200 yards, but the 4/6 favourite always had runner-up Angel Gabrial, who went down by two lengths, under control.

Gosden said: "He's just a big old boy who comes good at this time of year - we've had to be very patient with him.

"They went steady - he got there a bit sooner than we wanted to - and he tried to pull himself up when he hits the front.

"We'll have a go at Ascot now for the Long Distance Cup. It was heavy last year (sixth behind Forgotten Rules) and he didn't much like that."

Flying Officer would, however, need supplementing for the Ascot Group Two at a cost of £18,000.

Mustajeer showed a likeable attitude to open his account at the second time of asking in the NGK Spark Plugs EBF Stallions Maiden Stakes.

The Barry Hills-trained two-year-old landed the mile contest after reversing form with his Doncaster conqueror Linguistic.

Having raced prominently throughout, the 7/1 shot, together with odds-on favourite Linguistic, pulled clear of the field approaching the final quarter of a mile.

For a brief moment it looked as though Linguistic had gained the upper hand, but in determined fashion the son of Medicean rallied well to claim a two-length success.

Hills said: "He gallops and stays and ran a nice race at Doncaster. Paul (Hanagan) said he had a job pulling him up that day. He has done well since then.

"He is still a little bit on the weak side and he won't run again this year."

William Buick bolstered his strike-rate at the track with a 164/1 treble which was initiated by a front-running success for Bathos in the ebm-papst Nursery Handicap.

The two-year-old continued his purple patch when boxing on well to claim the mile prize and add to wins gained at Beverley, the Newmarket July course and at Thirsk last time out.

Although Southdown Lad emerged from the pursuing pack late on he could never get close to the heels of the 2/1 favourite, with a length and three-quarters separating the pair at the line.

Winning trainer Mark Johnston said: "There are not many that win four nurseries in a row. There are no great plans at the moment, as he has a way to go.

"He will be a lovely horse for next year and he has a bit of size and scope about him. He seemed to handle that ground and has got tons of stamina."

Secret Art signed off for the season on a winning note when completing Buick's haul in the 1stsecuritysolutions.co.uk Handicap.

Finishing with a late charge in the mile contest the 10/1 chance got the better of a bunch finish to edge out Ansaab by half a length to score for the first time since winning at Windsor in June.

Winning trainer William Knight said: "He is a pretty consistent horse and he didn't run any sort of race at Kempton the other day.

"It is nice for him to finish on a win and we will give him a nice holiday over the winter now."

Rare Rhythm (4/1) formed the middle leg of Buick's three-timer with an effortless success in the Arkle Finance Handicap.

Although not seen since finishing down the field at Sandown in May, Charlie Appleby's three-year-old relished the give in the ground stepping up to a mile and a half when running out an impressive four-length winner.

The race also marked the return from injury of three-times champion jockey Ryan Moore, who could only finish third aboard the Sir Michael Stoute-trained Peterhof. (More news on that here).

Golden Amber defied top weight to come with a late flourish in the six-furlong EBF Stallions Codebase8 Fillies' Handicap.

Although needing plenty of driving the 7/1 winner responded in a positive manner to get up on the line.

Long-time leader Iseemist seemed to have the race in safe keeping after getting all her rivals off the bridle before opening up what looked to be a decisive gap.

Despite being one of the first under pressure, the Dean Ivory-trained four-year-old picked up well for Pat Cosgrave, deputising for the absent Robert Winston, to put her head in front on the line and claim victory by a nose.

Ivory said: "I was worried about all the weight she was having to carry as she is not very big.

"There is a Listed race coming up here in a couple of weeks, but we decided to come for this first as it is her ground. She handled the track well.

"I was worried that it had dried out a bit too much as she loves soft ground, but it must be softer than I thought out there."