It was a tremendous day at Newbury on Friday (20th September), as our two-year-old winning form continued with exciting performances from Shameful and Fast Track Harry – both of which succeeded on very pleasing debuts and landed consecutive races, in division one and two of the 6f Maiden Stakes – and Asygarth, who secured his first victory in the Novice Stakes.
First in line for the winner’s enclosure was Shameful, owned by the Teme Valley connections and Austin Whelan. After weather conditions delayed play and 5mm of rain later altered the track going from good to soft, it was a slight concern how he would handle slower ground first time out, but thankfully his pedigree suggested this wouldn’t cause much complaint which he proved most effectively. After a steady break, Jim Crowley took up his position on the stand side as the field split and nestled him behind early leaders, before moving into a clear running from halfway. With a furlong from home, he stayed on remarkably to challenge the leader and won by a length and a quarter. We look forward to seeing more from him.
Our next triumph came in the shape of Fast Track Harry for owner Jeff Smith, who celebrated his second two-year-old winner of the week. Drawn wide in stall two, Rossa Ryan positioned him well on the far side where together they sat in contention amid two other runners, after the field split once again. Dwindling slightly as he hit the front, Rossa did well to keep him from wandering when finding too much daylight as he pulled clear. Despite small signs of greeness, he showed an impressive turn of foot and made-up ground easily; displaying very capable qualities first time out, which we will certainly build on.
Rounding off a gripping day’s racing, our hattrick was brought home by Asygarth. Coming into this performance with slightly more experience under his belt, this colt has shown progressive form so far over the season with some readily placed frame finishes, but this was the first time we have stepped him up to seven furlongs and on softer ground he was set for his biggest challenge yet. Breaking smartly away, Jim Crowley quickly found himself the front runner, where they travelled nicely before picking up the tempo to take on his opponent into closing stages. Winning by a nose, he fought hard for this win and responded well when asked for more. We were delighted to see things come together for him on the day for a well-deserved win for Jayar Investments.
Our newcomers have individually shown a real appetite for racing with both of their performances here, and to demonstrate such willingness on career debuts is most pleasing. As we know, Asygarth was further along in his education but after showing such promise from previous outings we couldn’t be happier to see him finish with his head in front.
This winning streak marks our sixth two-year-old victory over six days, which serves as a significant reminder of the team’s unwavering commitment at home. Every day, they are all dedicated to laying crucial groundwork with these youngsters at such a formative time in their career, and there is no greater reward than when we see our hard work play out on the track. A very deserved well done!