De Souza off the mark
Brazilian rider Nelson de Souza got his season off to a very belated start at Salisbury as he steered home his first winner for 257 days.
De Souza, who has become a familiar name on these shores in past seasons, broke his knee a couple of weeks before the start of the Turf campaign.
Having only returned to the saddle at Haydock last weekend, he seems to have lost none of his ability to get Mizooka up by three-quarters of a length in the Irish Thoroughbred Marketing Nursery.
Ralph Beckett’s filly, a 13-2 shot, had been progressive without winning in three attempts and had too many guns for Safari Sunup.
Beckett said: “Nelson rode about 20 winners for me the other season. He has been very unlucky with injury and also lost his way a little bit, but I’m delighted to help him get back on track.
“Mizooka will get a mile and a quarter in time – there’s a big nursery over that trip at Nottingham at the end of the season.”
The Listed EBF Upavon Fillies’ Stakes went to Ryan Moore on Michael Stoute’s Promising Lead (5-2) as the hot favourite Barshiba proved a major disappointment.
The winner comes from one of owner-breeder Khalid Abdullah’s established families and she grasped the race approaching the distance to pull two and a half lengths clear of Sell Out, who only found her feet in the closing stages.
Barshiba, who was fourth in the Prix d’Astarte a fortnight ago, laboured alone in the centre of the track and finished second last.
Trainer David Elsworth reported: “She didn’t want to race at all. We’ll have to be brave to do it, but we might still take her to the Matron Stakes in Ireland.”
Promising Lead had been second in a Listed race over a mile before finishing lame last time but seems to have found her forte at a 10 furlongs.
Elsworth and Barshiba’s owner Jeff Smith had some compensation when Hot Diamond (5-1) was a facile five-length victor of the Stella Artois Handicap.
Paveroc got off the mark in solid, if unspectacular fashion in the Sovereign Windows UK EBF Maiden Stakes.
The 2-1 favourite was entitled to win, having finished fifth at Royal Ascot and sixth at Glorious Goodwood, and he responded gamely for John Egan to win going away.
Trainer Stan Moore said: “I’ll have a word with the owner and we might put him in the Gimcrack next week for a day out.
“We were disappointed at Goodwood but there will be a lot of winners coming out of that race.”
Padlocked (9-2) who recently moved from Jeremy Noseda to David Simcock, took his record to three wins from four runs with a ready victory in the Goldring Security Services Pembroke Cup.
It was a second British success for rider Ahmed Ajtebi.
Hadden Frost dominated from the front aboard Outer Hebrides (9-1) to take the Axminster Carpets Apprentice Handicap.
