Solid Stone shines in Winter Hill Stakes at Windsor
By Racing TV
Last Updated: Tue 5 Dec 2023
Richard Kingscote executed a perfect front-running ride as Solid Stone came out on top in the Sytner BMW Sunningdale & Maidenhead Winter Hill Stakes at Windsor.
Trained by Sir Michael Stoute, who was registering an eighth success in this Group Three event, Solid Stone was sent off a 9-4 chance in a four-runner heat after finishing fourth at Salisbury last time.
Sporting first-time cheekpieces, Solid Stone was sharply away for Kingscote, who opted to set his own pace with favourite Fancy Man tracking him throughout.
He was still bowling along with half a mile to run, but it turned into an exciting battle in the final two furlongs with Harrovian challenging on one side and Fancy Man on the other, but Kingscote had a bit up his sleeve and Solid Stone eventually prevailed by three-quarters of a length.
The jockey told Sky Sports Racing: “He deserved it, he’s been running well all summer.
“He’s done it well today. Sir Michael just reached for the cheekpieces and they helped us out at the two pole and he kept on rolling.
“It’s great to get a nice winner (for Stoute).”
Bruce Raymond, representing the winning owner Saeed Suhail, said: “He’s been working exceptionally well and Richard just suggested last time putting the cheekpieces on and I think they’ve made the difference.
“He always looks as though he would stay a mile and a half, but I don’t know, I’ll leave that to Sir Michael – he’s the engineer, if he doesn’t know it, it’s not worth knowing!”
Teona got back on the winning track in the Sytner BMW Sunningdale & Maidenhead August Stakes for Roger Varian and Ray Dawson.
The three-year-old has faced two tough tests this season in taking third behind Snowfall in the Musidora before finishing well behind that rival when 10th in the Oaks at Epsom.
Given a break since then, Teona was sent off the 3-1 joint-favourite for the extended 11-furlong heat along with Domino Darling and she eventually made easy work of beating her seven rivals.
She kicked clear when given the signal by Dawson, galloping home three and three-quarter lengths in front of Desert Encounter to register a first Listed success.
Varian said: “We had big hopes of her in the spring and it didn’t go her way in the Oaks trial or the Oaks, so we’ve given her time.
“Hopefully this is just the start for her now – it’s nice to get a Listed win and hopefully she can build on that now.”
Teona has a handful of entries in the coming weeks, including next month’s Blandford Stakes at the Curragh and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, and Varian added: “We’ll see how she comes out of it.
“She’s well entered up so we have plenty of options over a mile and a half.
“I don’t think she will want the ground too soft, hopefully she comes out of this race well and we can look at something in September maybe.
“There’s hopefully next year as well. Her mum, Ambivalent, got better with age and this filly, hopefully the best is still to come.”
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