Aomori City one to remember following Nottingham debut

Charlie Appleby unleashed what could be a smart prospect at Nottingham on Wednesday as Aomori City appeared the consummate professional in his winning debut.

The son of Oasis Dream cost €260,000 as a yearling and was sent off the 4-6 favourite in the hands of James Doyle for the opening Daily Offers At Rhino.Bet EBF Novice Stakes.

He was forced to pull out all the stops by Ed Bethell’s Intrusively, but ultimately had plenty left to give when edging half a length clear at the finish.

In winning first time he replicated Blue Point, one of Godolphin’s star performers of recent years and who won this very race in 2016.

Doyle said: “That was a pleasing start. His work was nice and he’d worked with some winners. It was lovely and straightforward. He has a lovely attitude.

“He was probably left in front a long way out, but he showed a good attitude to fend off the second horse. They’re two probably quite nice animals. It felt like we quickened well and galloped out strong.

“He was faultless – first day at school he passed every test. It was nice we were able to teach him a bit today, he got a bit of cover early and got racing early.”

Doyle of course enjoyed two great days with Blue Point, doing the Group One sprint double at Royal Ascot in 2019.

When asked if there were any similarities between the pair, Doyle, who was back in the Godolphin blue for this ride, added: “It’s too early to tell – let’s hope he’s half as good, that would be nice.”

Aomori City was the first of a quickfire double for the Wathnan Racing number one as he swiftly followed up aboard Roger Varian’s 1-2 favourite Indemnity in the Euro2024 Daily Giveaways On Rhino.Bet Maiden Stakes.

It was a welcome win for the Highclere-owned four-year-old who has been frustratingly knocking on the door so far in his career.

“He kind of needed that because he’s had plenty of seconds and it is nice to get his head in front and hopefully he will gain plenty of confidence from this,” said Doyle.

“I was kicking myself at Leicester because he travelled into it really well and I think I committed too soon. He’s a horse when you press the button, he doesn’t want too much time to think about it.

“I felt like he thought he had won his race, pricked his ears a bit and one just picked me off from out the back. We learnt from our mistake and just held on to him for a bit longer today.”

Silvestre de Sousa guided Paul and Oliver Cole’s 15-8 favourite Post Rider to victory in the Charge Up Your Summer With Rhino.Bet Fillies’ Handicap, while Dr Richard Newland and Jamie Insole’s Great Blasket (3-1) could have bigger fish to fry this weekend having won the Follow Us On X @betrhino Handicap with a degree of ease.

The four-year-old holds an entry for Sandown’s valuable Listen To BetMGM On talkSPORT Handicap on Saturday and Insole confirmed he would take his chance if pulling out of his Colwick Park victory in good heart.

“We’ll check him over tomorrow, but as long as he is OK, I don’t see why we wouldn’t take our chance,” said Insole.

“He’s a hardy horse and he won first time out for us and then we probably didn’t know how to ride him the next few times on the all-weather.

“It wasn’t until Kieran Shoemark won on him at Southwell and we said let’s drop him out and get there as late as possible we figured him out and since then he has won four from five.

“The change of tactics has definitely been in his favour and that’s his 10th run for us and he’s been in the first three nine times.

“I think he could be a 90-type horse and I think stepping up into these higher grade of races will suit him down to the ground. The harder pace and better quality of horse gives him a better target to aim at.”

Mick Appleby could be forgiven for having just Big Evs on his mind ahead of next week at Ascot, but was delighted to see Lipsink (16-1) make what was a shock winning debut for his yard in the Discover Whats Trending At Rhino.Bet Casino Handicap.

Appleby said: “It was a bit of a surprise for us really and we thought he would have needed that badly, so he will come on for that run and we think he is a nice horse.

“He’s in here again next week so we will probably come back as long as he is in one piece in the morning.”