Bay City Roller rocks in Champagne Stakes

Bay City Roller dug deep to deny Monumental when winning the Betfred Champagne Stakes at Doncaster, with the Group Two contest marred by the unfortunate withdrawal of Chancellor.

John and Thady Gosden’s Chancellor had already secured maiden and novice victories on Town Moor, either side of a Listed-class third at Ascot, and was strongly fancied to oblige again in South Yorkshire.

However, he was forced to watch on from the sidelines after prematurely bursting open his stall and suffering a cut to his mouth, prompting an automatic defection.

In the race itself, 9-2 chance Bay City Roller powered to the front well over a furlong out and kept on gamely to make it three from three for George Scott and Callum Shepherd.

Aidan O’Brien’s Monumental threw down a late challenge but could never quite get to the winner and went down by half a length.

“It was a really pleasing run,” Scott said. “He’s a really genuine horse, that’s his best attribute.

“I wasn’t too worried about his margins that he had won by before. He just keeps stepping up and that’s what he’s done.

“I quite like the (Prix Jean-Luc) Lagardere for him. He’s very well-balanced and that track might really suit him a bit better than Newmarket. I’ll talk to (owner) Sheikh Nasser and see what he thinks.

“We know we will have to step up in the future, but he’s hit the line really good there hasn’t he, and he’s done everything he needed to do today. Stiffer tests await him, but we will see how he gets on.

“He hasn’t surprised me at all, I’ve been a bit obsessed with him, to be honest. I’ve stuck my neck out and asked Sheikh Nasser to buy the horse, he did that on my recommendation and I’m just relieved.

“I just think the race will suit him there (at ParisLongchamp), he’s a neat horse and won’t be inconvenienced by that turn. It’s definitely a race I will consider supplementing for.

“He could end up coming back here for the Futurity, he could easily end up coming back here. No doubt he will get another furlong.

“I think he will have two more runs this year, so we will see where we go, the timing might fit Lagardere and Futurity but we will see, it’s a nice problem to have.”

Robert Havlin, Chancellor’s rider, explained what happened in the stalls.

The jockey said: “He was really relaxed, he went down with the red hood on and stood in there (the stalls) good.

“What happened was, as the last horse was coming in, one of the other horses kicked the back of their gate and my lad just launched into the stalls, as if he thought it was time to jump.

“I tried to hang on to him, as he obviously burst the gates open, but he cut his mouth in doing it, so he wasn’t allowed to run.

“It’s a real shame as the race was set up perfectly for him.”