3 minute read
Red-hot market leader Dragon Leader proved a class apart when taking out the William Hill Two Year Old Trophy at Redcar.
The Clive Cox-trained charge was sent off 4/7 to get back to winning ways following an excellent runner-up effort in the Weatherbys Scientific £300,000 2-Y-O Stakes race at Doncaster and duly obliged under Richard Kingscote.
That said, it wasn't all plain sailing for Dragon Leader, who was caught wide in the centre of the track from his draw in stall 10.
The son of El Kabeir came under pressure early enough but picked up strongly to score comfortably by three lengths from Works Of Art, who is owned by The King.
Action Point finished another length and a quarter adrift back in third.
Speaking to Racing TV, Kingscote said: "Clive [Cox] has campaigned him beautifully this year,"
"He's a sweet likeable horse, getting weight off a lot of them was a big help and he's won some nice pots this year. He's proved professional, speaking to Ryan and William earlier in the week, they both said he'll get seven no problem and he felt like that to me as well, he'd be looking like he'd be needing seven now to be honest.
"They were taking me off my feet a bit up to halfway but to be fair, once I got a flick into him, he responded very well, showed a good gear; he's done it very well."
Sam Hoskins, representing owners Kennet Valley, said: "We are just thrilled, he's won a lot of prize money this season and we're very lucky. Clive and his team have done a wonderful job.
"We were very aware that the draw possibly wasn't ideal, and he's done it the hard way and gutted it out; we're just over the moon."