Richard Hannon‘s De Bruyne Horse beat Cardsharp in the opening contest on day one of the Investec Derby Festival at Epsom.
Ryan Moore steered the 13/8 favourite to victory in the Woodcote Stakes despite the two-year-old colt exiting the stalls very slowly.
But he swiftly recovered from the wide draw and tardy beginning to sit on the shoulder of Cardsharp – under Silvestre de Sousa.
His front-running rival still led with a couple of furlongs to travel in the valuable juvenile conditions race, but Moore’s mount responded to pressure when it mattered most and took it up just over a furlong out before going on to score by a couple of lengths.
“He stepped a little slow (out of the stalls), but he organised himself pretty quickly and I was able to just take a lead off Silvestre (de Sousa, on Cardsharp),” said Moore.
“When Silvestre quickened he just got caught out for 100 yards or so, but once he got into gear he was always going to win from a furlong and a half out.”
Both jockey and trainer were impressed by the youngster’s attitude, with Hannon suggesting the next step would be to let him go six furlongs – probably at Royal Ascot.
“He’s got some enthusiastic owners,” he said. “I watched it with them and my shoes are ruined! He didn’t cost a lot and they have a few horses with us so they deserve success.
“If you win this, arguably the best race of its type this season, you have to go to Royal Ascot and he needs six furlongs so it will have to be the Coventry.
“We’ll sleep on that, other options are the July Stakes and the Railway.”
