Sprint expert Quinault keeps up winning momentum at York

The Stuart Williams-trained four-year-old scored seven times last season and arrived at the Knavesmire chasing a Listed-class hat-trick this term following August strikes at Chester and Newmarket.

Marco Ghiani pushed 6-4 favourite Quinault into an early lead and worked his way across to grab the favoured stands rail, from where he controlled the race and kept on well enough to see off Purosangue and Oisin Murphy by a neck.

Ghiani told Racing TV: “He’s a very nice horse, he’s got the will to win and he always puts his best foot forward.

“Before the race, I thought that Oisin and the other horse would come to attack me late, so I was going a bit easy on him until the last furlong.

“Obviously, it’s not his ground but when they came to me, he was always going to stick his head in front.

“I went to walk the track beforehand to see what the far side was like and obviously it was the worst side, so I said to Stuart I think we need to edge across and he gave me the green light.

“He’s doing really well, he’s growing up mentally – and physically he’s getting stronger and stronger. We’re very pleased with him, he’s going the right way and hopefully the future holds something nice for him.”

Williams could even set his sights on the top sprinters, adding: “Vadream finished fourth yesterday (in the Betfair Sprint Cup) and she was third behind us at Newmarket, beaten about the same distance, so there’s not a lot in it.

“But we’ve still got next year with him, he hasn’t got a lot of miles on the clock and he’s a big, strong horse.”

Windlord looked like a colt with a bright future when powering clear for a wide-margin win in the British European Breeders Fund Novice Stakes.

Andrew Balding’s juvenile had shown promise in a couple of hot Sandown contests and seemed to benefit from a two-month absence to strengthen up when storming home by five and a half lengths from Shah.

The 6-5 scorer is certainly bred for the job, being by Dubawi and out of a daughter of the great French mare Goldikova.

He has some high-class entries, including the Royal Lodge, and successful rider Murphy was suitably impressed.

He said: “He’s a lovely horse; a little bit sleepy, you could see he was keen to look right towards the stands’ rail.

“But then he straightened up late on and he hit the line well. He’s a very well-bred horse and he has a nice future.

“On his work at home, Andrew and Barry Mahon (racing manager for owners Juddmonte) always felt he was a nice horse in the making.”

Murphy further strengthened his position at the top of the jockeys’ championship when partnering Balding’s 6-5 favourite Brighton Boy to victory in the Irish Thoroughbred Marketing Nursery Handicap.

Having topped the table in 2019, 2020 and 2021, he is on course to regain the title.

“They were quite a long time ago now, when I was young and things came easy to me,” said the rider, who celebrated his 29th birthday on Friday.

“It was difficult to start from scratch but obviously thanks go to Qatar (Racing) and Andrew in particular.”