Williams looking ahead with Bulwark
The enigmatic Bulwark booked a possible ticket to Royal Ascot with a last-gasp 33-1 success in the totesport.com Chester Cup.
Jim Crowley’s mount had run some notable races in defeat for Amanda Perrett and was an unlucky sixth in the Roodee feature two years ago.
But his form declined towards the end of last season, forcing Perrett to send him to the sales, where he was snapped up by Ian Williams and sent hurdling over the winter.
Williams also had other things on his mind and had been planning a raid on the event, which came off in good style.
Bulwark crossed the line with half a length to spare over Frankie Dettori on Som Tala, with Tilt a neck third and Double Banded eight lengths adrift in fourth.
Williams said: “Jim said to me when I first spoke to him about the horse that he could win a Chester Cup.
“This is just fantastic – the owners are local people and have always wanted to win the Chester Cup. Now they have managed to do it in their first season.
“He could now go to Haydock at the end of the month or go to Royal Ascot. He’s not in the Gold Cup, but the Ascot Stakes is a possibility.”
Mick Channon suffered a miserable weekend when Nahoodh finished an unlucky-in-fifth fifth in the 1000 Guineas and his misfortune was compounded as Som Tala had success snatched from him.
A philosophical Channon said: “The luck just isn’t with us right now.”
Aidan O’Brien’s Sail breezed through the Weatherbys Bank Cheshire Oaks field to stake her claim for a place in the Juddmonte Oaks at Epsom.
Last year’s winner Light Shift went on to score in the fillies’ Classic and bookmakers were taking no chances with Johnny Murtagh’s mount after this half-length verdict.
Ladbrokes offer a standout 16-1 while most other firms, including Coral, Totesport, Boylesports, VC Bet and Paddy Power, go 10s for the June 6 event.
Having opened up at 3-1 on course before going off the 9-4 favourite, the daughter of Sadler’s Wells made steady headway rounding the turn and flew down the straight to peg back Sugar Mint, who reportedly swallowed her tongue.
O’Brien was absent, but Murtagh said: “She has speed, stays and would suit the track at Epsom.
“She improved from her maiden and if she can improve again from her trial she will go to Epsom with a shout.”
Sugar Mint’s trainer Barry Hills added: “I was very pleased with her and the winner could be nice.
“I think we will go to Epsom and she will wear a tongue-tie next time she runs.”
This meeting would seem out of place without the customary Hills winner at his favourite course, however, and he got on the scoresheet as Daraahem landed a punt as the 11-8 favourite in the Boodles Diamond Maiden Stakes.
He said: “We’ll have to see what the handicapper does, but the King George V Stakes at Royal Ascot would be his likely next step.”
Dettori treated racegoers to a flying dismount after a tidy victory aboard Doncaster Rover in the Joseph Heler Cheese Lily Agnes Conditions Stakes.
Winning trainer Stuart Parr said: “I have taken my time with him as he is a nice, progressive colt and he’ll go to the Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot. The six furlongs there won’t be a problem.”
Allied Powers made a mockery of his rivals with a two-and-three-quarter-length call in the Walker Smith Way Handicap.
Trainer Michael Bell said of the 4-1 winner: “He’s now had three runs in nine days, but may run again under a penalty and I’d say his winning days aren’t over yet.”
