Hoof It, owned by world No.2 ranked golfer Lee Westwood and his agent Chubby Chandler, landed a gamble in the Sky Bet Dash at York to stake a strong claim for next Saturday’s Stewards’ Cup at Glorious Goodwood.
The Mick Easterby-trained 3-1 favourite powered to the front on the far side in the competitive handicap, putting the race to bed in the final furlong under a strong drive from Kieren Fallon.
Chandler also looks after last weekend’s British Open champion Darren Clarke, as well as Rory McIlroy, and said: “Not quite as good as Sunday, but not far off!
“The idea is the Stewards’ Cup now. He’s a great horse and Kieren likes him.
“Lee is in the gym today, he’s going to America next week and he didn’t want to disrupt his routine.
“This is a great horse. My mate told me to sell it last year, but I said what’s the point? We only do it for a bit of fun and we’d probably never find a horse as good as Hoof It.
“I just want to know why he doesn’t run more often – I love it! You get quite a buzz when your horse is favourite and there’s 40,000 people cheering it on.
“Me and Lee like to think we know what we’re talking about when it comes to racing, but we don’t really.
“He’s going to Goodwood next week and hopefully Lee will be there for that.
“This is the only hobby Lee has got and it’s probably my only hobby as well.
“It’s been a hell of a couple of weeks, but we won’t be celebrating quite as much as last week. I’m driving, anyway.
“Mick is talking about going to Doncaster after Goodwood, but I wouldn’t mind a trip to the Breeders’ Cup.”
Fallon said: “I rode a bad race and he got me out of trouble. I went to the wrong side and he did well.
“I probably would have gone sooner if I could have done. When he gets there he idles a little bit, so the way the race was run was a blessing in disguise really.”
PA AAP TURF
