It as a terrific double on the all-weather tracks on Monday (18th November), as Worthington Lake won in a worthy fashion at Southwell, closely followed by another tidy victory from Good Banter at Wolverhampton.
Kicking off our two-year-old success came in the shape of our prospering newcomer – Worthington Lake – a two-year-old filly who has shown much improvement on her last two all-weather efforts, finishing her latest run in a credible third at Kempton. Ridden prominently by Hector Crouch, she was always travelling well but on the swing for home still had a lot of race left in front of her. Staying on strongly inside the final furlongs, the filly made tremendous headway in a late surge, stealing the lead in a photo finish. This was a really pleasing effort from her as we stepped her up in class for the first time, and we were delighted to see her handle the company to make her Handicap debut a winning one. There is more to come from this filly, which poses exciting potential for her owner, David Armstrong.
Next up was Good Banter; a promising juvenile owned by Paul and Clare Rooney. After performing brilliantly on debut, finishing in a commendable second place at Salisbury, this colt quickly secured his first success last time out over the same course and distance at Wolverhampton. Returning to the all-weather, he made light work of his penalty with another impressive performance over the six furlongs. Ridden by Richard Kingscote, he started strongly leading the field and ran on easily to the line – with little to take him on – and won comfortably by 1¾ lengths. This was another nice performance from him as his progressive form continues. He is growing and maturing all the time and presents himself a strong and capable candidate ahead of his three-year-old campaign, with plenty of sprinting opportunities in mind both over the winter and into next season.
