De La Sayette shines with Nottingham double

Apprentice registers first brace of his career.

Benoit De La Sayette celebrated a red-letter day at Nottingham on Tuesday, bringing up his first-ever double when steering Yummylicious to victory in the Watch On Racing TV Fillies’ Handicap.

The Newsells Park Stud-bred daughter of Dubawi was a maiden heading into the 10-furlong handicap, but following a pair of eye-catching performances in the early part of the season, was sent off the 9-4 joint favourite at Colwick Park.

De La Sayette had the filly up with the pace throughout and she looked better than her mark of 76 when coming home two and a half lengths clear of the runner-up, Thunder Queen.

“She’s been very unlucky, she tries her heart out and fought to the line. She broke well and I just tried to slot her next to the leader and guide me and she made work very easy today,” said the winning rider.

“I rode her at Beverley a few weeks ago and she was very unlucky, but it gave me a good indication of what she was like and that helped me out.

“Every winner counts and they are the last two winners of my 7lb claim. I’ve still got 7lb for the next few days and I’ll hopefully be able to use it wisely.”

De La Sayette was earlier on the scoreboard with Dreams Of Thunder, who made a winning stable debut for Amy Murphy in the racingtv.com Fillies’ Handicap.

Nottingham Races – Tuesday May 17th
Dreams of Thunder ridden by jockey Benoit Sayette wins the racingtv.com Fillies’ Handicap at Nottingham racecourse (Zac Goodwin/PA)

The winning trainer was not at Nottingham, but was thrilled to follow the win from her satellite yard in France.

She said: “She’s a nice filly, we’ve just taken our time with her and maybe put her to sleep too much judging on today. She probably wants a step up to seven (furlongs) because we were mindful that today we wanted to drop her in and relax then come home strong.

“She had plenty of weight, so it was great to use Benoit and his claim to good effect and he got the job done.”

Another jockey enjoying a double on the card was Tom Marquand, who was successful aboard King Of Jungle (4-1) for Ed Walker in the Follow @RacingTV On Twitter Handicap and Canterbury Bell (11-10 favourite) for William Haggas in the concluding Join Racing TV Now Classified Stakes.

Kalamity Kitty kept on well to bring up a four-timer in the Racing TV Profits Returned To Racing Handicap. Ed de Giles’ 13-8 favourite has been in rude health in the early part of 2022 and her trainer was delighted that the four-year-old made a successful step up to two miles.

“I think she is still capable of winning over one-mile-six, but this race came up and we thought it would bring more out of her,” said the winning trainer.

“She only does what she has to do, so hopefully the handicapper can’t be too hard on her. She’s still developing and she’s only four and she’s only going to get better.

“We’ll exhaust her handicap mark and then maybe she could jump, she’s a lovely horse.”

Garner was a winner for Her Majesty
Garner was a winner for Her Majesty (Zac Goodwin/PA)

The Queen’s Garner (13-2) made all to open his account in good fashion in the opening British Stallion Studs EBF Maiden Stakes, however, any immediate plans for the Royal winner may be on hold with the horse reported to be lame following the race.

Assistant trainer Matthew Fielding, representing trainers Harry and Roger Charlton on course, said: “He just came off the track lame, so he’s just going to head off to the vets now for further assessment.”

In a day of short-priced winners Atheby (11-4 favourite), obliged favourite backers to get off the mark in the Bet At racingtv.com Restricted Maiden Stakes, while in the second division, Pink Carnation (9-4) put her experience to good use to hold off Roger Varian’s debutant Kind Gesture.

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