Solid Stone

Solid Stone did well to win the one-mile handicap. They didn’t go a great pace, and he was fairly well back in the field early on. As well as that, he shipped a slight bump from Exec Chef after they had gone two furlongs, and that seemed to light him up a little. Seventh of the eight runners when they turned for home, he was hemmed in a little by Modern Millie as they passed the three-furlong marker but, once in the clear on the run to the two-furlong marker, he picked up well on the outside, got past Exec Chef into second place and then ran down the leader Muraad inside the final furlong, going on to win by two lengths.

Sir Michael Stoute’s horse won on his final run at two and on his first run at three last season. He didn’t win again last season, but he ran some good races in defeat, including in two Sandown handicaps during the summer. He didn’t run after August last year but, gelded in the interim, this was a hugely encouraging start to his four-year-old campaign. We know how horses can progress as four- and five-year-olds for his trainer, many of them in the colours of his owner Saeed Suhail, and it may be that Solid Stone will continue to progress now as the season develops.

Sandown, 13^th June 2020