Balding delighted with Epsom victors

Both Ndaawi and Nobel look to have bright futures.

In-form trainer Andrew Balding will seek opportunities abroad for Ndaawi, who provided the first leg of a double for his Kingsclere team at Epsom on Sunday.

Having got off the mark on his second outing at Goodwood, the Sultan Ali-owned Cracksman colt stayed on well to land an extended one-mile conditions race under David Probert.

Balding secured the brace when Nobel justified favouritism, following up his debut win on the all-weather at Kempton in December.

The Qatar Racing-owned three-year-old made all on his turf debut – coming off a 291-day break – to land a 10-furlong novice impressively under Cieren Fallon.

“We were thrilled with both Ndaawi and Nobel,” said Balding.

“Ndaawi obviously has improved with every run and he wants further, so it was a good performance.

“We are delighted as it had been a long way back for Nobel, but he is a very high-class horse. He had been working well, so we were just relieved to get him out. Both were fine on Monday morning.”

Ndaawi holds an entry in the Group One Vertem Futurity at Doncaster on October 22, although is not certain to take that step up in class.

Balding added: “I think that is unlikely. If he goes anywhere, he will probably go to France for something else.

“We need to discuss plans for Nobel. All things are possible. But we’d like to run him once more again on the grass this year.”

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