Mountain Angel climbs to the top in Wolferton Stakes

Varian and Doyle team up for smart success.

Roger Varian and James Doyle teamed up to win the Wolferton Stakes at Royal Ascot in fine style with Mountain Angel.

Fifth in the race to subsequent Group One hero Addeybb 12 months ago, Mountain Angel enjoyed a dream run up the inside to win in clear-cut fashion.

Prince Eiji – a stablemate of the 8-1 winner – appeared to have them all on the stretch at one stage, but Doyle waited for a gap to appear on the rail and when he did he took full advantage

Ryan Moore came with a late charge on 15-8 favourite Sir Dragonet and was making ground hand over fist in the closing stages, but found the line coming too soo.

Mountain Angel was given quotes around the 20-1 mark for the Coral-Eclipse at Sandown next month.

Varian said: “He had everything in his favour. He’s a good horse fresh. He’s showed that over the years. He gets the trip well, he loves a bit of dig in the ground and he’s trained well at home.

“He ran very well in the race last year when he got shuffled back early on from stall one. It was probably a slightly stronger renewal last year so we thought he’d run well today.

“He doesn’t need over-racing. We took him to Bahrain on a fact-finding mission in the autumn to see if he’d be an international horse, but he didn’t like that firm ground, so I think we’ll bide our time with him.

“He ran well in a couple of Group races in France last year, so he’ll deliver when he’s got things in his favour.

“He is not just about first time out. He is a horse that when conditions suit he is pretty smart – if the trainer runs him on ground too fast he is probably not going to give you the same performance.

“He was placed in the Prix Dollar last year and a Group Three at Deauville. On the back of that he has got a Group race in him.”

Doyle, riding his third winner of the week, said: “It worked out perfectly for him and he loved the ground.

“I travelled really good, I could have done with them going a bit quicker but he just carted me into it.

“I pulled my goggles down and when we turned in I couldn’t believe how much room we had. I didn’t want to get to the front too soon, but he knuckled down well.”

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Roger Varian Royal Ascot Festival

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