Marquand gets seal of Approval at Goodwood

Daring run up the rail is rewarded for jockey.

Approval lunged late under Tom Marquand to take the Coral Kincsem Handicap for William Haggas at Goodwood.

Twice a runner-up on the all-weather in spring and then a comfortable winner at Windsor in June, the chestnut then headed to Royal Ascot for the Golden Gates Stakes.

His front-running approach did not pay off there as he was beaten into seventh but a change of tactics reaped its rewards.

An obvious passage from his midfield position did not materialise in the final furlong and Marquand was forced to squeeze up in the inside rail to grasp the lead in the final strides and secure success by a neck from Brioni, ridden by Vincent Ho.

“He would have been unlucky if he had got beaten because he tried every gap!” said Maureen Haggas, wife of the winning trainer.

“He did well to win. He won at Windsor making the running and he was too free at Ascot.

“Today we thought there would be plenty of pace and they went off, we dropped in and then they slowed it down considerably. I thought maybe he was in trouble.

‘”Actually he accepted it and has done really well to run a really nice race. He seemed to enjoy the track.

“Where he goes is William’s department but he was much more mature in the prelims.”

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