King High shows his hand for Burrows in Silver Tankard
The impressive winner also paid a nice compliment to Bin Jahwar.
Owen Burrows is excited to see what King High can achieve next season after rounding off his juvenile campaign with an impressive victory in the British Stallion Studs EBF Silver Tankard Stakes at Pontefract.
Fourth on his Sandown debut at the end of July, the 320,000 guinea Kingman colt then broke his duck at Newbury before returning to the Berkshire track to finish second to Godolphin’s Derby contender Bin Jahwar in the Haynes Hanson & Clark Conditions Stakes last month.
He faced a step up to Listed class and far more demanding conditions in West Yorkshire, but handled both with aplomb in the hands of Cieren Fallon, who made his challenge widest of all rounding the home turn and his mount saw out the mile strongly to prevail by two lengths from Tyrrhenian Thunder to win at 5-1.
“He’s a bonny horse he is – he’s improved a lot with every run this season,” said Burrows.
“The ground going so soft was a little bit of a concern, but to be fair to Callum (Rodriguez, jockey) he said at Newbury that he wouldn’t mind a little bit of cut, the owners were happy to roll the dice and he did it well.”
The Lambourn handler admits only time will tell just how far King High can go as a three-year-old, but he feels there is plenty of scope for progress.
He added: “He’s obviously pretty versatile ground-wise and he’s a late May foal, so I’d like to think now with a winter on his back he’ll improve again.
“Like a lot of mine this year, because we’ve not been able to get on the grass they’ve been slow burners. He ran a tidy enough race at Sandown first time, took a big step forward when he won at Newbury and I was thrilled with his run in the Haynes Hanson & Clark – I thought that was a big run. That showed he’d improved again and he’s probably improved again today.
“He stayed well today and a mile and a quarter is going to suit him next year. I’m not sure where the ceiling is with him, to be honest.”
Earlier on the card there was a shock for punters as the Craig Lidster-trained Craven Force won the William Hill Price Boosts Every Day Nursery Handicap at 100-1.