Neil Callan records victory to savour with Rising Star

Simon Milham and Molly Hunter
June 15, 2022 5:57 pm

‘Royal Ascot is beyond anything else in the universe’.

Neil Callan was able to celebrate a special winner at Royal Ascot courtesy of a 40-1 upset for Rising Star in the Kensington Palace Stakes.

While a third-placed finish behind Highfield Princess on All-Weather Championships Finals Day at Newcastle reads well, Marco Botti’s filly had since been beaten at Ascot and Beverley.

But partnered by Callan – riding his fifth Royal Ascot winner and first since 2013 following a prolonged spell in Hong Kong – Rising Star bounced back with a determined victory over Random Harvest.

“It’s only a handicap, but Royal Ascot is beyond anything else in the universe,” said Callan.

“This week of racing, no matter what race it is, it is a championship race and Rising Star was good today.

“I’ve been away in Hong Kong for 10 years. I was top five, I rode two Group One winners the season I left.

Rising Star (right) and Neil Callan won the day two finale (David Davies/PA)

“When you come back, you don’t pick these things back up. You have to work for it and you just hope you get the breaks. You need these opportunities and these sort of days and these winners to put you in the limelight – I’m just so glad it has come now.”

Botti said: “Obviously Rising Star was a big price, but we knew she had the ground.

“The draw was a little bit wide and we thought it was going to be a big ask to overcome the draw. Neil gave her a brilliant ride and I’m delighted for the syndicate of 10 people.”

Dark Shift provided jockey James McDonald with his second winner of the week as he motored to victory in the Hunt Cup.

Having been seen to great effect aboard Australian raider Nature Strip in the King’s Stand on Tuesday, the New Zealand-born rider adopted very different tactics aboard this Charlie Hills-trained grey.

A winner of three of his last four starts, and carrying a 5lb penalty for the most recent of those triumphs at Nottingham last month, 13-2 chance Dark Shot was dropped out towards the rear of the field early on as 29 runners bounded up the straight mile.

After making his move from the halfway stage, Dark Shot edged towards the front racing inside the final two furlongs and finished strongly to beat Intellogent (40-1) by half a length.

Another #RoyalAscot win for @mcacajamez 🇳🇿
Dark Shift wins a thrilling Royal Hunt Cup for @cbhills! pic.twitter.com/P7vBKTcXOa
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) June 15, 2022

“It was always the plan to go for the Victoria Cup. We ran there and got a terrible draw. We needed to them run him again to get into this race,” Hills said.

“We ran him at Nottingham and he won there. It was a bit of a worry if we would get into the race two days ago. Anyway, it’s great. Myself and James McDonald go back a long way. He came to spend the summer with us eight years ago and we have become good family friends and for connections to let him ride the horse means an awful lot. I’m very proud.

“James is so good. Not taking anything away from our boys, we’ve got some great ones in England, but we just seem to get on well. It’s great to have James on our side.”