3 minute read

Random Harvest gave Saffie Osborne her biggest winner to date when the pair landed the Group 3 Longines Valiant Stakes at Ascot this afternoon.

As expected, habitual front-runner Random Harvest was quickly into stride and adopted his customary position at the head of affairs. Ameynah, who was making her first start since finishing sixth in the Group 1 1000 Guineas at Newmarket back in 2022, travelled up strongly under David Egan, but perhaps found lacking a recent outing and faded after looking like a serious challenger.

Random Harvest (10/3) continued to grind it out from the front and although both Thornbrook and Roman Mist looked like collaring the eventual winner close home, she found plenty for pressure and clung on to score by a neck.

Roman Mist finished well to grab to second spot while Thornbrook stayed on nicely against the far side rail to take third.

Saffie Osborne, who rode a treble on the opening night of the Racing League at Yarmouth said: "The track really suits her and she's a filly that's easier to deal with on the front end and that plays massively to her strengths as I can set the fractions that I want and the way that she's so versatile tactically makes my life easier.

"She can get a bit fidgety in the stalls, hence why she goes in last, and she just jumped a fraction slow, and I had to use a bit more petrol than I wanted early on which meant that I just set her alight a bit too much. To be fair to her, she does hold her head quite high, and she came back to me nicely and I was able to get a good breather into her."

Winning trainer Ed Walker added: "She really deserved it, she's been such a consistent filly, and been second here quite a few times now so it's nice to be in the first slot for once! Very brave of her to come back two weeks after her first run in a Group 1, which was quite a quick turnaround after Ascot, so she's been busy, but she seems to thrive on it.

"She's got that slightly high head carriage that makes it look like she's doing more than she is but I was very confident, I knew Saffie was not going overly quick, and she's so tough and game, she loves it from the front and is so hard to pass when she gets an easy lead.

"A great ride by Saffie, a special day for Saffie. She gave her an absolute peach, she's a brilliant young rider, first year out of her claim, this filly has been very important to her career, and I think she's been very important to this filly."