John Gosden said: “It was nice ride and he had him in the perfect position where Lester (Piggott) would have told you to be, which is fourth or fifth with one horse inside you and only two wide to save ground so you could move where you want to. Second to Ralph Beckett’s Derby runner Artistic Star at Sandown last time and holding an entry for the blue riband himself throughout the spring, the son of Kingman was given a fine ride by Benoit De La Sayette on his handicap bow.ĭespite only hitting the front entering the final furlong, he had long looked the winner travelling smoothly in the hands of De La Sayette – who was happy to just keep the momentum going aboard the three-year-old and steering him in the right direction – with the 4-1 joint second favourite scoring by the best part of three lengths to book a possible trip to Royal Ascot.

Torito ran out a stylish winner of the first-ever Betfred Lester Piggott Handicap at Epsom on Saturday.Įpsom announced earlier this week the 10-furlong contest would be renamed to permanently honour one of the track’s greatest sons, and John and Thady Gosden’s colt triumphed in the manner of a smart operator. We are hoping she can add the other weapons to her armoury and do it for us.” She has definitely got the talent, but she has obviously only got five runs to her belt.

“Sadly I haven’t got a Group One on the CV yet. “In natural talent at home she is right at the top, but it is about what they can do on the track and she needs to just be a little bit more streetwise and get those sprinting muscles,” he said. Tate has trained other Group-winning sprinters, like Invincible Army and Far Above, but feels Royal Aclaim could be the one to take him to the next level.

She has only had five races in her life so surely she is going to improve.” “We are really hopeful she can pick up where she left off and improve a little bit. “She is a bit bigger and a bit stronger, but she is really well in herself at the moment and is moving really well. Stars always emerge in the sprinting division and we are hoping she will be one of them,” said Tate. “The sprinting division is often open at this stage of the year and we don’t know what will turn out to be best. On her only outing afterwards she was third in a French Group Three – but, as the Nunthorpe winner showed, sprinters tend to improve with racing and with just five runs under her belt, Royal Aclaim has plenty of scope for improvement. The filly was sent off 5-2 favourite to provide Tate with a breakthrough success in the Nunthorpe last season, but finished sixth behind Highfield Princess. A Group One gap on James Tate’s training CV could be filled this year by Royal Aclaim, who is set to return to action in Saturday’s Betfred Temple Stakes at Haydock.

Dead drop by tate james