Alpha Capture pips stablemate to win Rockingham

William Haggas trained the first two home in the Coral Rockingham Stakes with Alpha Capture just getting the better of Kyeema

Alpha Capture was the 5-2 favourite after coming home a narrow second in the Weatherbys Scientific £300,000 2-Y-O Stakes when last seen at Doncaster, with Kyeema the lesser-fancied contender at 9-1.

In the final furlong Kyeema seemed to have put the race to bed under Danny Tudhope, but Alpha Capture and Tom Marquand put up a fight and chased him to the line, only missing out on landing the Listed contest by a head.

“They both ran well, Kyeema ran well here at the big (Ebor) meeting and he obviously likes York because his two best performances have been here,” said Maureen Haggas, assistant and wife to William.

“The other horse did well to get there, his form has been good and he ran well in the sales race last time and that form’s worked out well.

“He’s a pretty solid little horse. A dead heat would have been better! It’s a pity one of them had to get beaten as they both ran good races.”

The Haggas’ were denied a double when Protagonist was beaten just a length by Algiers (11-1) in the Coral “Beaten-By-A-Length” Free Bet Handicap.

Strike Red was a 12-1 victor in the valuable Coral Sprint Trophy Handicap for Richard Fahey and Billy Garritty.

The four-year-old came into the race in winning form having triumphed at Wolverhampton last time out, a victory that saw him rise 4lb for his trip to the Knavesmire.

He was not hindered by the extra weight, however, surging to the front of the 19-runner field and succeeding by three quarters of a length from Hyperfocus.