Steenberg fine after Ascot run

Steenberg is reportedly none the worse for his exertions on ground considered far too fast for him at Royal Ascot yesterday.

Connections thought long and hard before giving the improving five-year-old the green light to run in the the Golden Jubilee Stakes.

But he was far from disgraced in finishing ninth, beaten just four lengths behind the victorious Fayr Jag.

“We were very worried about the ground but we trotted him up this morning and he seems fine,” trainer Mark Tompkins said today. “The ground was very hard there yesterday and it was nearly a disgrace for Ascot.

“He’s a proper horse and if it had been good ground, or on the easy side of good, he would have gone very close.

“He ran a cracking race – he got hampered at the start and one or two things happened, but he just won’t let himself go on that ground.”

The top sprint contests remain on the agenda for the son of Flying Spur.

“He never really runs well at Newmarket but if the ground comes up soft, he’ll go for the July Cup,” Tompkins added.

“There’s a race at Deauville over six and a half at Deauville in August (Prix Maurice de Gheest) which he’ll be entered in, and also the Stanley Leisure Sprint Cup at Haydock.

“Those will be the aims, all the good sprints.”