Good day for Talking Trainers

The Talking Trainers section in Ahead On The Flat had 3 winners on Monday with Karl Burke stealing the headlines. The Middleham handler won the Group 3 Prix Sigy at Chantilly in 2016 with Quiet Reflection and that filly subsequently became a dual Group 1 winner later the same year. The head of Spigot Lodge was at it again taking the 2023 renewal with Marshman. The Harry Angel colt was a high-class juvenile winning twice before finishing second in the Group 2 Gimcrack Stakes in August. Dropping back to five and a half furlongs on his reappearance, he made virtually all and soon built up a sizeable advantage. Despite tiring late on, Clifford Lee's had enough in reserve to win by a length and a quarter. Expect him to follow the 'Quiet Reflection route' and head next to Haydock Park for the Group 2 Sandy Lane Stakes (27th May) before tackling the Group 1 Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot (23rd June). 

Burke was also on the mark at Redcar with Dubai Crystal (10/1) winning the ten furlongs novice stakes by nearly five lengths. The well bred daughter of Fastnet Rock also made all the running and never looked like relinquishing her advantage. Out of a mare who was placed in the Oaks, she will stay further in time and is an improving filly.

The third winner also came at the Cleveland track with the appropriately named Concorde (4/6) making a mockery of an opening mark of 55 in the one mile handicap. A gelded son of Sixties Icon, the George Boughey trained three year old looks the sort to run up a sequence having scored here by four and a quarter lengths, similar to his stablemate Simply Sondheim who won six times last term progressing from a rating of 56 to 87.

The Stable Gossip feature on Sir Michael Stoute unearthed the final winner of the day with Assessment (11/4) winning on his handicap debut at Kempton. Returning from a break of 333 days, the son of Kingman hadn't been seen since finishing third at Chelmsford in May having suffered a hairline fracture. Gelded during the summer, he looked fairly treated off 85 and so it proved with Richard Kingscote's mount providing his trainer with his first winner of 2023.

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