SPRING ROMANCE won his second race for Solario Racing this year when holding the late challenge of Royal Household to win by a short head at Lingfield yesterday.
The lightly raced 3yo son of Zebedee was one of seven runners in the 0-75 handicap over 6f for 3yos only and handily drawn next to the inside rail, he took advantage of stall one to be handy throughout under stable apprentice Jack Duern.
Sent off the 3/1 joint-favourite, Spring Romance led until the half-way stage before tucking in behind another horse prominent in the betting, the well-backed Enzo’s Lad. Both horse and jockey took the brave route and threaded through the very narrow gap up the inside rail to take up the running. Despite the late charge of the Richard Hannon-trained runner-up, the pair held on to win the spoils to the delight of the thrilled syndicate, Solario Racing (Berkhamsted).
Well done to Jack who judged the pace well, made a brave move at the right time, taught the young sprinter plenty during the race and won without knocking the horse about. Both horse and jockey will have learnt a lot from the race and they seem to be forging a fruitful relationship.
Solario Racing’s owners are well spread out geographically and while some are Hertfordshire-based, others came from Surrey and Nottinghamshire to see their boy win his second race in just six career starts.
Spring Romance is progressing nicely and working his way up the handicap although he is still quite green in his races. As Jack Duern commented: “He’s winning without really knowing what he’s doing!” The horse has been raised 13lbs and 4lbs since the start of the year for a win and a second and won yesterday off 62.
“Neville” as he is known in the yard, will go up again but having won by a short-head, he surely cannot go up too much….can he?