Musselburgh report: Kihavah edges home in Queen’s Cup

Kihavah

took full advantage of getting “a dream run” up the rails when claiming a game success in the £100,000 Virgin Bet Queen’s Cup at .

Adrian Keatley’s admirable dual-purpose performer was second in last year’s Ebor and finished third behind Sir Gino in the Fighting Fifth at Newcastle over timber.

He was well beaten in last week’s Scottish Champion Hurdle at Ayr but bounced back to form on the Flat to make it nine career victories under both codes.

P J McDonald initially appeared to be stuck behind Struth two furlongs out, but when that runner moved off the rails before backpedalling, opportunity knocked.

McDonald wasted no time in driving his mount through the gap and Kihavah (7-1) battled on bravely to edge out Aimeric by a head, with Loughville another neck back in third and 2023 winner Wise Eagle fourth.

“Adrian just told me take your time, be brave – and honestly, this horse has got guts,” McDonald said on ITV.

“I was second on him in the Ebor, I won on him at Ayr (in September) and a child could ride him, he is an absolute legend.

“But it’s a funny game, yesterday at Newcastle I got absolutely no luck up the inside, finished pretty much on the bridle (on Tuco Salamanca), and today I’ve got a dream run the whole way up the inner. It’s worked out perfect.

“Horses like this, they don’t come along that often, you know. This lad switches from jumps, back to the Flat, back jumping and he’s a credit to the lads in the yard and Adrian.

“I’m just glad to be able to ride him because he’s one of those horses that when you see yourself jocked up on him in the week, you can go happy days because you know you’re in for a great spin – win, lose or draw!”

American Affair timed his late charge to perfection to land the Virgin Bet Daily Price Boosts Scottish Sprint Cup Handicap for Lanarkshire handler Jim Goldie and could now be aimed at Royal Ascot.

Paul Mulrennan gave the five-year-old a patient ride at the rear and always looked to be travelling strongly.

He had to bide his time waiting for a gap to appear, but once seeing daylight, American Affair found a smart turn of foot to surge past and strike by three-quarters of a length at 7-2.

The gelding scored three times last term, including a Portland triumph at Doncaster, and is clearly still on the upgrade.

Goldie told ITV: “He’s terrific. You never know whether they’ve improved but he’s got stronger and probably faster.

“The quandary is whether he’s a five-furlong horse or can he go over six, because most of the good sprints are over six, but it’s a nice problem to have.

“Obviously the King Charles, what was the King’s Stand, is only five furlongs at Ascot, which will probably be OK.

“I don’t know if he’ll be one for Newmarket as he didn’t particularly enjoy Hamilton going into the dip, so he likes running on flat tracks and can go up a hill at the finish.

“He certainly goes up the hill at home, so he’s a good horse and maturing.”

Regular pilot Mulrennan commented: “I had a good draw there and I just got a nice toe along. I just had to wait for a bit of room.

“He doesn’t do a lot in front but he’s got a good turn of foot. He took a good blow with me there as well, so I’d like to think he’ll improve a fair bit again.

“He feels like he’s got bigger and stronger from last year. He went up nearly 30lb last year but hopefully there will be a bit more improvement again. You can see he’s still not 100 per cent in his coat but he’s won quite nicely there in the end.

“He’s a proper sprinter, he’s got a good mind and he’s got a good turn of foot there and he can get you out of trouble, as he did in the Portland. Hopefully there will be a lot more good days to come with him this year.”

Charlie Johnston’s Thunder Wonder was well supported ahead of the Livescore Bet Best Odds Daily Royal Mile Handicap and dominated from the front under Joe Fanning.

The chasing pack briefly threatened to challenge two furlongs out but the John Brown and Megan Dennis-owned colt quickened up again and pulled clear to score by five and a half lengths at 4-1.

Johnston revealed that former William Hill chief executive Brown had been keen to take some fancy early prices for the son of Night Of Thunder.

Asked if Brown had cashed in on the victory, the trainer told ITV: “I think he might have, because he phoned me on about Tuesday or Wednesday when a few firms had early prices on the race and he said ‘is there something wrong with this horse, because he’s 25-1?’

“I told him there’s nothing wrong with this horse, this has been the plan for about two months and hopefully he got plenty of the 25s.”

Johnston also had the fifth-placed Hot Dancer and added: “I thought they both had good chances coming into it, even though there was a big disparity in the market between them last night, but Hot Dancer will come forward for the run and Thunder Wonder had had a run before at Southwell, which has clearly brought him forward.

“He’s a horse we’ve always thought plenty of and he’s now just starting to fulfil that potential.

“This is a meeting we always target and this is a race where I think we’ve had three winners and three seconds in the last six renewals, so we know the type that it takes to win the race and we’ve done it again.”

Persuasion kept on well under Callum Rodriguez to land the Virgin Bet Every Saturday Money Back Silver Arrow Handicap at 18-1 for the training team of David and Nicola Barron.

Rodriguez said of the eight-year-old: “We got a perfect kind of trip round for this course; good draw, nice position all the way round, travelled great and he toughed it out well to the line.

“He’s been a consistent horse in defeat for connections over the years and he got a win off this mark on similar ground last year at Haydock and we were fairly hopeful today.”