Bunbury Cup report: Aalto proves his expertise once again

Aalto obliged favourite-backers to both avenge last year’s narrow defeat and regain the Betway Bunbury Cup at Newmarket.

Ian Williams’ six-year-old has a real affinity with the July course and in particular this contest, having won the seven-furlong event in great style in 2024 and finding only William Haggas’ top-class operator More Thunder a nose too good 12 months ago.

Ridden by William Buick, the 4-1 market leader had a wall of horses ahead of him entering the final quarter-mile but once finding daylight the HQ regular stormed home to score by half a length from chief market rival Back In Black.

Aalto was leading home a one-four for both Williams and the owners, with stablemate Supido fourth.

The winning trainer said: “We've tried not to over-race him, but he managed himself really well today.“He had a lot of ground to make up for two down, but William said when he actually got stuck into him he actually picked up and really flew, which we could see. It's a huge result, a great result for him, a great result for the owners. “I didn't think it was inevitable.  I thought we had a lot of ground to make up, and you never know when they're just going to flatten out. And we were watching Supido (4th), who I thought had run his race two out, but he stayed on really well. So yeah, it was, I didn't think it was inevitable at any stage until he actually got past the post.  It was a nice ride from William. “He's not an easy horse to train, but he's an easier horse to train at this time of year than he is in the autumn in this room. We primarily train handicappers. So, if we're going to win a decent race, it's going to be a handicap.  We don't have much in the Group level, so these big handicaps are really important to us. “He's going to be another year older if we come back next year, isn't he? But we'll see. I mean, he obviously likes it here.  And it's a valuable prize. So, you know, it's always in the back of our mind, but it will depend how he manages himself.”