Prompter takes Maiden Stakes at Chester
Michael Bell's Prompter became the first progeny of the 2005 Derby winner Motivator to win when he put up a convincing performance under Hayley Turner in the EBF Maiden Stakes at Chester today.
The 8-11 favourite made all the running in the seven-furlong test and stayed on well up the home straight to see off the challenge of Tominator by two lengths.
Bell's representative Ian Smith said: "The win is extra special as Michael also trained Motivator, and Prompter carried the same colours as Motivator (Royal Ascot Racing Club).
"When he was second first time out he came up against a horse (Black Spirit) which is very well liked but it was only greenness which beat Prompter."
Turner said: "He was impressive, he did it very easily. He is bred to stay further but he must have plenty of speed to win over seven furlongs around here."
Ruth Carr set herself a target of 20 winners at the start of the year but things have gone even better than she had hoped and she took her score over Flat and jumps to 28 when Diamond Laura (7-2) won the Free Race Replays At racinguk.com Nursery.
It looked as if Capacity had come to win his race as he got a lovely run on the rails to lead a furlong and a half out.
But Silvestre de Sousa produced Diamond Laura with a perfectly-timed effort on the outside to lead about 100 yards out and pass the post with three-quarters of a length to spare.
Diamond Laura, a 30th winner of the year in the colours of Middleham Park Racing, was having her first run for Carr, who explained: "We claimed her (from Diamond Racing) for £13,000 (€15,370) after she had won at Beverley a fortnight ago, we liked her even though it was not much of a race.
"We had hoped she would be good enough to lead the others today, but neither Plan A or Plan B worked - fortunately Plan C did!
"We also had a top man on our side as Silvestre is riding out of his skin."
The David Brown-trained Doncaster Rover, a winner at the May meeting here last year when with Stewart Parr, returned to the Roodee and struck again under Phillip Makin in the Listed Flight Centre Chester Queensferry Stakes.
His chance did not look that promising as they turned into the straight in the six-furlong test, but a gap appeared at just the right time for him and he burst through to get the better of Sohraab by half a length.
Brown said of the 11-10 favourite: "This is a good horse and he has so much more to show yet.
"He is improving all the time and has such a turn of foot, but he likes good ground, it was too sticky for him at Newbury last time.
"He is in a Group Three race at the Curragh in two weeks' time, a Group Two at Baden-Baden at the end of the month and the big sprint at Haydock in September.
"But he is a horse for next year really and I will probably only run him twice more this time."
