Newcastle Saturday

Jenningsbet Northumberland Plate

WE all have different goals in life and items on our bucket lists, but it’s well known that top of those lists for Brian Ellison have been the words “win the Northumberland Plate”.

After umpteen attempts, the dream finally became a reality at the weekend.

Ellison was born on Pitmen’s Derby day back in 1952 and has never made any secret of his desire to land the historic prize at his local course.

It was, therefore, a moment of utter joy to see Onesmoothoperator (Connor Beasley) lead a furlong out, before coming away to win the £81,000 prize by two and a half lengths from Evaluation (Lucinda Russell/Andrew Mullen).

The 12/1 shot could hardly have made it look more straightforward, making a mockery of the years of heroic failure and delivering the veteran Ellison a victory sweeter than any that have gone before in his lengthy career in the sport.

“I’ve been wanting to win it for a long time, and I knew I had Onesmoothoperator right,” said an emotional Ellison on ITV. “They went a hell of a gallop and, when he’s like that, he’s some animal. Turning in I said: ‘This has hacked up’ and Connor said he could have won on the bridle.”

A happy Brian Elllison and Connor Beasley after winning the Jenningsbet Northumberland Plate \ Healy Racing

THE Northumberland Vase isn’t a race which would get much attention as a rule, but victory for the Cathy O’Leary-trained Alphonse Le Grande (Hollie Doyle) makes it noteworthy, and the 3/1 favourite responded well to Doyle’s urgings to win the “Pitmen’s Derby” consolation from Show No Fear and Bringbackmemories.

Winner of the Chester Plate in May for O’Leary’s brother Tony Martin, the winner has switched handlers temporarily while Martin serves a controversial suspension of his licence.

The presence of Martin at the course, where he celebrated with winning connections and gave the pre-race instructions to Doyle, has caused some embarrassment to the authorities on either side of the Irish Sea, although Martin was perfectly entitled to attend Newcastle.

Montassib continues Haggas run

William Haggas enjoyed a productive June with his horses and a double at Newcastle on Saturday helped him to a total of 23 winners in the month.

Montassib (Cieren Fallon) continued his resurgence since reinvented a sprinter with a late lunge to land the Group 3 Chipchase Stakes at odds of 7/2.

It looked like Kinross (Ralph Beckett/Hector Crouch) had swooped to conquer when the favourite hit the front inside the final furlong, but Montassib was also making stealthy headway after a slightly awkward start, and he flashed home to gain the spoils by three-quarters of a length, with Willem Twee (James Fanshawe/Danny Muscutt) another half-length away in third in a race dominated by those ridden patiently.

This was a third consecutive winner in the race for William Haggas and just a second all-weather start for the winner who has raced on turf since making a winning debut here in 2020.

It was also a double on the card for trainer and jockey after Wiltshire had landed the opening handicap.

Newmarket Saturday

NOBLE Dynasty was the star of a double for Charlie Appleby and William Buick as he landed the Group 3 Plantation Stud Criterion Stakes at Newmarket on Saturday

Noble Dynasty had given 15lb and a beating to subsequent Buckingham Palace Stakes winner English Oak over seven furlongs of the Rowley Mile on his domestic return, and that form looked good enough to translate back to pattern company, which the 2/1 favourite did with aplomb, beating Nostrum (Sir Michael Stoute/) and Witch Hunter (Richard Hannon/Sean Levey) by three-quarters of a length and half a length.

“Noble Dynasty has been a consistent horse this year and we are delighted to see him win a Group 3 race,” said the winning handler.

“He is similar to King Of Conquest in that they are both lead horses at home in the mornings but can do a good job in the afternoons as well. We will potentially look at the Group 2 Lennox Stakes at Goodwood and he deserves a crack at a race like that. He showed his versatility on the quicker ground today, which has always been a slight concern. William said he let himself down on it, so it opens up a few more options.”

Fred Archer Stakes

King Of Conquest has earlier given Buick and Appleby the first leg of their double in the Listed Fred Archer Stakes, but not before he’d been forced to work for success by the determined Aimeric (Roger Varian/Jack Mitchell).

The 11/8 favourite looked set to score comfortably when taking over a quarter of a mile out, but Aimeric moved up at the same point and although unable to get past, proved a thorn in the side of the winner, with just a neck between the pair at the line. They pulled four and a half lengths clear of Deauville Legend in third.

Appleby added: “King Of Conquest is an honest horse who needs a gallop. He ran in the Jockey Club Stakes at the Guineas meeting and it became a tactical affair, which doesn’t work for him.

“I think we will keep him in the UK. We have spoken before about taking him abroad, but he doesn’t have that tactical pace. You need to travel on sharper tracks and he’s always behind the bridle, but he enjoys racing that way.

“We will probably give him a little break and think about whether to possibly step him up to a mile and six furlongs. All the evidence suggests that he will appreciate the extra distance.”

Empress Stakes

The 9/1 shot Celandine (Ed Walker/Tom Marquand) landed the Listed Maureen Brittain Memorial Empress Fillies’ Stakes in game fashion, racing prominently from the off and finding plenty for pressure as challengers arrived in the closing stages. Last of those came from Tales Of The Heart (Ralph Beckett/William Buick), with favourite Arabian Dusk back in third.

A sheepish Ed Walker admitted that he was really happy with Celandine, but added: “Annoyingly, I said to Tom ‘where do we go from here?’ and he said the Lowther, but that closed this week, and I didn’t put her in.”

“I put her in the Moyglare, thinking she would end up going further, but Tom is adamant she has loads of speed and if we change from six, we’ll come back to five, rather than going up to seven. She’s exciting and very well bred, and it’s great to get a stakes winner for Rockcliffe Stud.”