Ballad calls tune in York opener

The pint-sized Indian Ballad showed the heart of a lion to beat Breezolini by a nose in the TSG Nursery at York.

The horses struggled in the testing autumn ground but Indian Ballad (8-1) found that little bit extra for jockey Graham Gibbons.

The Ed McMahon-trained juvenile won by the minimum margin from Breezolini whose rider Amy Ryan put up 3lb overweight with Maggie Mey a head away in third.

"He's not over-big, but he's very well made and he's just been improving all the time," said McMahon, speaking from home.

"He was going to run at Pontefract earlier in the week, but this was a better prize so we came here.

"He goes on all types of ground, he's got a good action and he's won four times now so we'll probably rough him off for the season."

Waseet (18-1) pounced late to upstage the market leaders Kings Gambit and Kirklees in the Garbutt & Elliott Conditions Stakes.

Those two paid the penalty for having a ding-dong battle up the straight while Richard Hills brought John Dunlop's colt with a steady run down the centre of the track.

Waseet wore the front two down in the last 100 yards to grab the spoils by three-quarters of a length from the luckless Kings Gambit. Kirklees was a length and a half away in third.

"He's by Selkirk so we knew he would go on the ground," said Hills.

"He's been riddled with problems the whole of his three-year-old career but John said to me he was probably the best he'd had him all year and he was proved right."

Justonefortheroad (25-1), part-owned by former England striker Alan Shearer, just got the better of Eton Rifles to land the Acorn Web Offset Handicap.

Eton Rifles looked like gunning down the opposition but Saleem Golam brought the Richard Fahey-trained four-year-old with a well-timed run to take the feature race.

Shearer was the only member of the three-strong Pontoon Partnership on hand to witness his three-quarters of a length victory.

"I backed it, but I was slightly worried when it went out to 25s, but I'm delighted," said Shearer.

"You never know with the ground. It was sticky, but the horse has run a great race and the jockey has done everything he said he was going to do. I couldn't have asked for anymore.

"I'm the only one of the three in the syndicate here today. The other two had gone golfing to Spain for the weekend.

"I held hope they had made the wrong decision - and it's raining in Spain."

Rudegirl (4-1) made her experience count when opening her account in the EBF Read Paul Nicholls Exclusively On Betfair Maiden Stakes.

Fourth in a valuable sales race at Fairyhouse on her previous start, Nigel Tinkler's filly came through the tacky ground with flying colours to beat Commended by half-a-length in the hands of Silvestre de Sousa.

"She's tough, genuine and I'm very pleased for the breeder, David Flood," said Tinkler.