Water To Wine makes deep impression on Newbury debut

Top hats are on order after Water To Wine’s impressive debut at Newbury on Saturday – but they will be required at Royal Ascot rather than Epsom after the summer’s showpiece meeting emerged as the preferred destination for the strapping son of Kingman.

Trained by John and Thady Gosden, who have enjoyed a fine week, the exciting colt was sent off the even-money favourite for the Too Darn Hot Darley “Confined” EBF Maiden in the hands of Ryan Moore and made stylish headway before asserting late on to register a four-and-a-quarter-length success.

However, connections were quick to quash talk of the Derby, instead seeing the winner as the ideal candidate for the King Edward VII Stakes at the Royal meeting before bigger targets are considered later in the campaign.

Tom Goff, racing and bloodstock adviser to owner George Strawbridge, said: “He’s a fine big horse who was in full work last year and I remember hearing good things from the guys for a horse with such range and stature by Kingman.

“Not many of his get more than a mile and a quarter, but looking at him he’s very much a mile-and-a-half-type and like I say, he was working well last year but just went a little weak so quite rightly they backed off him and hopefully it pays dividends now.

“He’s won a maiden at Newbury and he’s very exciting, but I don’t see him as an Epsom and Derby-type myself. Royal Ascot and the King Edward VII is very much on the radar and then there are a lot more very nice races over a mile and a half.

“Maybe he could go for an Irish Derby after that, but as he’s not in the Dante it will now be a question for John and Thady where they want to go next. He’s a horse for the future and I think if we went to the Derby it would be asking too much of a horse of his frame and stature at this stage.”

Also en route to Royal Ascot is Archie Watson’s Exclusive Code (5-1) after he opened his account with a taking display in the 25-runner Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships “Confined” Maiden Stakes.

Watson said of the Wathnan Racing-owned gelding: “It was a very strong maiden on paper and he ran in a couple of those last year, finishing behind the champion two-year-old (Gewan) here on debut.

“He’s done a lot of growing up between two and three and might have a little bit more to do – he was a bit bolshy to post – but he’s a talented horse.

“The right horses came to the fore and he showed a good attitude and showed he stays a mile.

“We’ll see what the handicapper does and if he has a mark that will get him in the Britannia we will probably go straight there as we all want runners at Royal Ascot and it’s a big thing obviously for the owners Wathnan as well.

“If he’s got a mark that would make him competitive in the Britannia we will go there, but it wouldn’t surprise me if he stepped into stakes company at seven furlongs or a mile at some point down the line.”