MASAMAH helped jockey Eddie Ahern land a tremendous 117-1 treble at York Racecourse.
The five-year-old, trained by Kevin Ryan at Hambleton, was backed in by punters from 12-1 to 8-1 in the feature sportingbet.com Sprint and their money was never at risk.
Prominent from the start of the five-furlong contest, Ahern held off the surging Doctor Parkers and Celerina by half a length and a neck after hitting the front with two furlongs left to travel.
“It’s easy when the horses are like him,” Ryan said. “He ran well at Chester from a bad draw and it was very encouraging that he had improved physically over the winter.”
Ahern added: “He’s a very good horse. He did his own thing and they couldn’t catch him.”
Ryan doubled up in the very next race with Brocklebank (10-3) in the Yorkshire Regiment EBF Maiden Stakes but, by then, Ahern had already notched his hat-trick thanks to Chachamaidee’s length and a quarter win in the sportingbet.com Conditions Stakes and Times Up’s easy victory in the Listed Stowe Family Law LLP Grand Cup.
Just Lille (7-2) was an impressive pillar-to-post winner of the opening sportingbet.com Claiming Stakes for Leyburn handler Ann Duffield.
The eight-year-old, ridden by Silvestre de Sousa, was fired into the lead from the start of the oneand-a-half-mile contest and set a pace which ensured she could not be caught.
Duffield said: “That’s her 12th win for us and she has done it very well.
“She’s a grand mare and we left it to Silvestre and said he could ride her anyway he chose to.
“You could pick holes in a lot of the others – it wasn’t the strongest claimer in the world and it is great for the owners to have a winner at York.”
Common Touch (7-2 fav), a winner at York during the May Festival for Malton trainer Richard Fahey and part-owner, Knavesmire chairman Nicholas Wrigley, repeated the trick in the Sportingbet Stakes.
And Norton trainer Brian Ellison, who recently notched up his 500th winner as a handler, scored his 11th victory of the month when Ravi River (9-1) claimed the closing John Wright Electrical Stakes.
The win, by two and a quarter lengths over Meetings Man (14-1), gave Koo’s Racing Club, run by York-based Kristian Strangeway, their first winner on Knavesmire.
Ellison said: “He’s all right for £4,000. That’s the second time he was won for us but he has never disappointed. He has always been there.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here