After becoming a regular in the winner’s enclosure this month, Hamdan Al Maktoum’s Tastahi managed to gallantly claim the Aon Aston Park Stakes at Newbury. For most of the race it was Richard Halls who looked set to make his father Barry’s Tashahi come out on top in the race.

However, All The Aces ridden by Philip Robinson proved to be a worthy opponent, but Tashahi found a second wind to see off the market leader by half a length. Angus Gold, the owner’s (Hamdan Al Maktoum) racing manager said that Barry thought Richard did not run fast enough the last time and that this was the reason for upping the tempo and  his excellent performance today.

Something interesting I heard in the news was the winning of the Berry Bros & Rudd Handicap at Newbury by Main Aim, under the guidance of Ryan Moore. However, during the race, Main Aim looked more than a few pounds ahead of the handicapper, highlighting the level of the performance, and managed to register a win of more than seven lengths at the expense of Aye Aye Digby.

Trainer Sir Michael Stoute was suitably impressed, and explained “He has won twice at six furlongs and twice at seven furlongs, so we need to work out what his best trip is, which is a nice problem to have”.