Turner back in the swing
Rationale completed a four-timer with a half-length triumph in the £20,000 (€296,600) Halls Group Victory Vase Handicap at Yarmouth to provide a welcome winner for jockey Hayley Turner.
Last year’s joint champion apprentice had gone 29 days and 50 rides without a success but she was in top form aboard the three-year-old gelding.
Nothing wanted to go on in the early stages, leaving Rationale and Turner a reluctant early leader of the mile-and-six stamina test.
The Ryan Moore-ridden Duty took it up nine furlongs out in a bid to inject some much-needed pace into the race.
Turner was content to just bide her time on 3-1 joint favourite Rationale before asking for his effort down the straight.
She brought Stuart Williams’ charge back to the head of affairs just over a furlong out and drove him home through the final strides for a half-length victory.
The victorious Newmarket trainer said: “We didn’t really want to be in front in the first half of the race but found ourselves there.
“Luckily, Ryan has gone and taken it off us, which helped us a little bit.
“We were hopeful that he would get the trip. He had stayed a mile and three on a stiff track like Bath but you can never be ultra confident.
“He seems to be progressing nicely. He will probably have one more race this year. He is actually in the sales next month but if we keep hold of him, he might make up into an Ebor horse next year.”
Turner well and truly came in from the cold when she rode Forces Sweetheart to an 11-2 victory in the concluding six-furlong Constitution Motors handicap.
Owner Alexander Elsass flew all the way from Denmark to watch his Desert Storm contest the Great Yarmouth Tourism handicap and was rewarded with a length and a half win.
Elsass jetted into Stansted from Copenhagen but almost missed the race after being delayed as a result of an earlier accident near Norwich.
He arrived at the Norfolk track with 10 minutes to spare and was on hand to witness his four-year-old gelding make virtually all in the two-mile event.
Moore dictated from the head of affairs and never looked like being reined in - despite Rose Bien’s best efforts late on.
It was a deserved first success for the lightly-raced Desert Storm after a run of five straight runners-up finishes, including one at Bath on his seasonal reappearance 10 days earlier.
Winning trainer Rae Guest said: “He has never been ungenuine – he has just got that one pace. He’d had a year off before his last run and he ran a bit fresh and keen.
“But he likes to bowl along and Ryan got him nice and settled today and he has found plenty in the finish.”
Michael Hills was another rider in double form, securing two winners for his father Barry.
Firstly, he booted home The Illies in a thrilling finish to the At The Races-sponsored nursery.
Glorious Prince jumped swiftly in the mile contest and tried to make all but Hills earned his fee on the The Illies, who got up on the line for a short head victory – his second win on the bounce.
The jockey said: “I was surprised how the second horse kept going. I always thought I would get by him but I didn’t think it would be that close.”
