DOR’S LAW (pictured) bolted up by five lengths at Nottingham yesterday under Sophie Ralston to give the young apprentice her third win for the stable this season.
Eleven lined up for the 1m2f handicap and with ground conditions officially heavy, there were five non-runners due to unsuitable ground. Whether the six-year-old mare, a daughter of Lawman, would cope with the ground was open to doubt as she had never raced on heavy which might explain why she was quite weak in the market, fourth in the betting at 6/1. However, she did have one piece of form on soft last year at Yarmouth when coming second, beaten a length and three-quarters over a mile, so there was some cause for optimism.
In her last outing at Chelmsford, Dor’s Law came from off the pace with a rare rattle and just failed to prevail, going down by a head. This was the first time Sophie Ralston had ridden her and she’s a horse who needs to be produced late. As the Racing Post acknowledged, “as her record suggests, timing it just right is not the easiest thing to do.”
This time, again the mare was held up and after making headway over 7f out, she led two from home and was pushed clear inside the final furlong to win comfortably from Tilsworth Lukey. It was pretty evident the horse relished the heavy conditions.
Congratulations to winning owner, Mrs Doreen Carter for whom this was her third winner of the year following Nicky Baby’s victory in April and Nezar’s success last month. Interestingly, for all three wins, Sophie has been in the saddle, so congratulations to her as well. She has only just joined the stable but has a great 25% strike rate on the yard’s horses having won three in just twelve rides.