Ayr Gold Cup conundrum for Jumby

Molly Hunter
August 25, 2021 2:38 pm

No hurry with colt who will be ‘lovely horse for next season’.

A step up to black-type class could await Jumby after a possible tilt at the Ayr Gold Cup in mid-September.

The three-year-old was a winner at Salisbury on Tuesday evening, taking the British Stallion Studs EBF Conditions Stakes by a head from Owen Burrows’ Albasheer.

That performance was Jumby’s sixth run of the season in a campaign that began with a third-placed handicap finish behind subsequent Group winner Creative Force.

Pattern company could now beckon for Eve Johnson Houghton’s colt too, though there may be another handicap prize on the agenda first as the Ayr Gold Cup remains under consideration.

🚨 Albasheer beaten
Dewhurst sixth Albasheer is denied by the gallant Jumby who lands this three-runner affair for @oismurphy & @johnsonhoughton at @salisburyraces pic.twitter.com/S9SEi52CQu

— Racing TV (@RacingTV) August 24, 2021

“We were thrilled with him, really pleased,” the trainer said of the Salisbury success.

“He’s in the Ayr Gold Cup, but it depends on the ground whether we go there or not.

“He’d be quite well in because I imagine the handicapper won’t be kind after that, and then we’ll have to go up to Pattern class.

“I’m not in a hurry with him now, he’s a big horse and he’s had plenty of racing this year.

“He’ll stay in training for next year and I think he’ll be a lovely horse for next season.”

Johnson Houghton is also in no hurry to decide on the next outing of juvenile sprinter Chipotle, who was last seen finishing a creditable ninth behind Winter Power in the Group One Nunthorpe Stakes.

The two-year-old is entered in the Mill Reef at Newbury and the Middle Park at Newmarket, but is currently resting in his paddock after a busy campaign since his debut victory in the Brocklesby at Doncaster in March.

Chipotle has been a star for Eve Johnson Houghton this season (Alan Crowhurst/PA)

“He has got a few things (to consider), he had a good few early entries,” the trainer said.

“We’re just giving him a week or two off, it was a tough enough race at York and then we will look at our options.

“He certainly wasn’t disgraced, he was only beaten six lengths, he’s run a lovely race.

“He’s a really tough, genuine horse but again, he’s had plenty of racing so he’s having a bit of time off in the paddock, a week off to freshen him up, then we’ll see where we go after that.”