Alpine Trail proving a pleasant surprise for Charlie Appleby

Alpine Trail entered Charlie Appleby’s Derby calculations in maintaining his unbeaten record at Newmarket.

The Dubawi colt was sent off the 10-11 favourite in the hands of William Buick for the Nyetimber Newmarket Stakes and showed he is on the up by coming home strongly in the Listed event to deny and John and Thady Gosden’s Nebras by three lengths.

“He’s been improving with every start and has done nothing wrong,” said Appleby.

“At home he’s never been exciting to watch but as the lads keep saying, he’s a hard horse to get past if you’ve got one in the gallop with him. He was a big, raw Dubawi last year and he needed a bit of time. We gave him all the time he needed and he’s repaid us so far.”

Alpine Trail was handed a quote of 25-1 for the Epsom Classic by Paddy Power, but would need supplementing for the June 7 contest providing he passes his next assignment, with Appleby considering a quick return to the track at Lingfield on May 10.

“We could look at the Lingfield Derby Trial or something like that,” added Appleby.

“Do I think he’s really a Derby horse? I don’t really know because he wouldn’t jump out at home, but then you can’t fault what he’s doing on the track. He’s not in the Derby, but at any stage we can pop him in, so I think let’s get him to Lingfield and see what happens there.

“He’s done it nicely today and I think he showed there he will stay. Stepping up to a mile and a half, he might take another step forward again, but you will need to if you are going to be what we’re looking for.”

In the opening Darley EBF Maiden Fillies’ Stakes, Hollie Doyle got the better of her husband Tom Marquand as Zgharta saw off Pearla.

Andrew Balding’s daughter of Ghaiyyath saw the form of her previous track second to Charlie Appleby’s Victory Queen franked earlier in the week and as such was sent off the 13-8 favourite stepping up in trip.

However, despite opening her account, she could now revert to a mile for a possible Royal Ascot tilt.

“I’m relieved she’s a winner but she probably didn’t quite see out the trip as well as we thought, so we will have to consider coming back in trip,” said Balding.

“I thought she would stay it well but Hollie felt she was running on fumes a bit the last half-furlong.

“I think her class and experience got her through it and time will tell, but I would expect there were some nice fillies in the race and it wasn’t a bad effort considering.

“We could possibly look at the Sandringham at Royal Ascot, but I’ll have to discuss it with Imad (Al Sagar, owner) and see how she feels. We’ll see how we go, but I think a stiff mile is what we will be looking at now.”

Balding had further success on the card when Miss Information (3-1) claimed the Betfred “Nifty 50” Handicap in the hands of Oisin Murphy.

The trainer added: “We were happy with the way she came on since her first run of the season and she did it well and is a lovely filly.

“She’s still in the handicap system so we might look at the Victoria Cup at Ascot if it doesn’t come to soon. Something like the Bunbury Cup could also work well for her as she likes it at Newmarket.”

Meanwhile, Marquand did eventually find the scoresheet when Ed Walker’s Fort George (100-30) was another to get off the mark on the day in the Betfred “The Classic Bookmaker” Handicap.

“Gelding helped him and we try to buy horses with a bit of future in them and he’s a lovely horse going the right way who has probably done his job today,” said Alex Cole, racing manager to owner Fitri Hay.

“We were very disappointed when he got beat at Newcastle (in his final start at two) but in hindsight it served its purpose and he got a nice mark and won this race well.

“Ed Walker has done a fantastic job and hopefully there is more to come. If it isn’t broke, we’ll not try to fix it so we could stay at a mile.”