Adele Rothery rode Masta Plasta to victory in the National Express Scottish Sprint Cup at York for the biggest win of her career.
Ninth winner for tyro jockey
Adele Rothery rode Masta Plasta to victory in the National Express Scottish Sprint Cup at York for the biggest win of her career.
Success in the £50,000 feature on David Nicholls' mount was just the 24-year-old Rothery's ninth winner
Nicholls, who has made his name winning these type of races, won the 2006 renewal with Handsome Cross and could not hide his delight for Rothery.
She is engaged to fellow jockey Paul Mulrennan and rides the horse every morning in work.
In his days as a juvenile the five-year-old won the Norfolk Stakes for Howard Johnson when the Royal Ascot meeting was run at York, but that was his last success.
As with so many sprinters of Nicholls, however, he looked rejuvenated in winning at 16-1. Everymanforhimself was a length away in second.
"I told her to blast it, Howard Johnson and Robert Winston are not stupid and that is how he won the Norfolk," said Nicholls. "He beat me that day with Strike Up The Band.
"I did a similar thing with Peace Offering, sprinters can lose their confidence but when you put a lady on they can get it back. If you give them a cuddle they respond to it sometimes and Adele rides him every day.
"He'll go for the Dash at Epsom next weekend."
Delighted
Rothery was understandably delighted and commented: "I was told to make the running on him and I knew that if something came past him that was probably it, but he kept picking up and won well in the end."
The Scottish Sprint Cup is usually run at Musselburgh but was switched to the Knavesmire for one year as the Scottish venue will host a race for York while improvements to the track are being carried out later in the year.
John Dunlop's Samuel (12-1) had to travel further than any other runner on the card but he made the 512-mile round trip worthwhile by winning the Stowe Family Law LLP Grand Cup under Eddie Ahern, losing his maiden tag in the process.
Easier
A fine third behind Geordieland and Royal And Regal in the Group Two Yorkshire Cup here, he found this drop back to Listed level much easier and beat Tranquil Tiger by one and three-quarter lengths with Godolphin's 2-1 favourite Regal Flush only third.
"We've aimed pretty high I suppose - he's hardly run in a maiden race - and was third in the Yorkshire Cup the other day. He hasn't had that much racing," said Dunlop.
"This was a tough ask I thought but he did it well.
"I don't think he will go for the (Ascot) Gold Cup. It's difficult to know what distance to go with him. He might go for the Goodwood Cup over two miles or we might even bring him back in trip."
