‘Very game’ Tolstoy records notable Knavesmire double

Brian Ellison’s Tolstoy achieved the rare feat of winning on successive days at York after knuckling down to land the Sky Bet Proud To Support Macmillan Handicap.

Just over 24 hours after providing 16-year-old apprentice Shay Farmer with his first ever winner, the Kingman gelding was a 100-30 favourite to follow up over the same seven furlongs, with the more experienced Ben Robinson taking over in the saddle.

While Friday’s victory was achieved with relative ease, Tolstoy had to dig deep to complete the quickfire double, getting the better of Quest For Fun by half a length, with New Image and Stone Soldier only a head and a neck further behind in third and fourth respectively.

“He was very game, wasn’t he? We didn’t know if he would back up obviously, but we just thought he didn’t have a penalty for yesterday and we’d give him another shot,” said Ellison.

“Ben said it didn’t really work out because he missed the break, but he got right down on the inside and gave him a great ride.

“I fancied him more yesterday. I said to the lad yesterday morning ‘if you hold your head, I think you’ll win’, it was only his second ride.

“We’re only half an hour down the road, so we took him home and he ate up and everything was fine.

“I thought he was a lot calmer in the paddock today, he’ll go on any ground and Ben thinks he’ll get a mile.”