Evening Saigon gave Hamad Al Jehani victory in the Coral Stewards Cup at Goodwood on Saturday, a day after Archivist had taken the Golden Mile for Wathnan Racing.
Those two successes were the sixth and seventh winners of the week for the owner, and the pair of Coral-sponsored handicaps alone delivered just over £218,000 in prize money.
"Hamad has turned up and won two of the hardest handicaps to win all year," said Wathnan's racing advisor Richard Brown. "We plot these and work as a team – when these results come off, it’s just fantastic for Wathnan and what we are all about. If you look at Hamad’s statistics since he started training, they match up with the best trainers in the country. He’s a phenomenal horseman and was a very good rider himself. He’s very modest about it but he showjumped to a good level. We all work very closely together and to pull this off is huge for everybody involved.”
Seven winners in five days
Wild Blossom got the ball rolling in the Alice Keppell Conditions Stakes on Wednesday, and Flora Of Bermuda, Exclusive Code, Archivist, Silver Lake and Hopewell Rock also hit the target across the meeting.
James Doyle picked Evening Saigon from the three Wathnan runners in the Coral Stewards Cup, and although the sprinter used plenty of energy before the start, he had enough left to see off Stratusnine on the far side. Mitbaahy was closing the pair down and took third, with Completely Random a close-up fourth under the meeting's leading rider Ryan Moore.
'It's really important for us'
"I am very happy for Evening Saigon and very happy for the team," said Hamad Al Jehani. "He performed very well at Royal Ascot and it was the right decision from the management to keep him for the Stewards’ Cup. It’s really important for us and it’s a really important race for the season. I’m very happy and thanks to James for giving the horse a great ride. It’s not easy to be competitive with the best trainers in the world but we try our best and I think we are building in a very good way, with great help from the management. Hopefully, we will improve year by year and we can make Wathnan be in the winner’s enclosure more and more.”
Handlers Archie Watson, William Haggas, Andrew Balding, Karl Burke and George Boughey all saddled winners for the team across the week.
Doyle: 'He tried to get rid of me'
"Obviously I was very deflated last year (at the meeting) so the memo was we need to do better and that’s everyone, including me as well," Evening Saigon's rider James Doyle said. "He’s not an easy conveyance, setting off he was that well in himself he tried to get rid of me the first few strides but that was great."
