Maltese Cross makes an impression in shedding maiden tag

Maltese Cross looks an exciting prospect for William Haggas next season after getting off the mark in the opening race of the Cambridgeshire meeting at Newmarket.

Narrowly beaten in second on his Ascot debut just under three weeks ago, the Sea The Stars colt was a 13-8 shot to open his account at the second time of asking in the Hunters Prestige British EBF Maiden Stakes, with twice-placed Del Maro the 5-6 favourite for Charlie Appleby.

The market principals came to the fore in the closing stages of the one-mile contest and while Del Maro hit the front racing up the hill, Maltese Cross found more late on to wrestle back the lead and claim top honours by a head in the hands of Tom Marquand.

Haggas said: “He’s a nice horse and I liked the way he stayed on up the hill.

“He wants a mile and a half, but I’m never keen to run them over too far at two. I don’t know whether he’ll run again this year, I don’t think he needs to. He’ll learn a lot from that and we might just aim him at a race in the spring and then see where we are.

“Tom was quite complimentary. Quite the value of the form, I don’t know, but we think he’s a nice prospect and he’s got a lot of furnishing and maturing to do. If he does furnish and mature, which he might, there’s lots of stamina in the pedigree and he’s got a good brain, so who knows?

“It was a nice performance. Time will tell whether it was a good race or not, but as far as the horse is concerned that was perfect for me.”

Big Song was an emphatic winner of the Federation Of Bloodstock Agents Nursery for trainer Harry Charlton and jockey Kieran Shoemark.

The two-year-old was fourth behind subsequent Group One winner Zavateri on his debut and confirmed that promise with a nose victory at Epsom next time.

He disappointed on his most recent appearance at Thirsk, but bounced back to form on his handicap debut, passing the post with just over three lengths in hand at odds of 9-1.

Philip Robinson, racing manager for owner Mohammed Jaber, said: “The jockey who rode him at Thirsk (Callum Rodriguez) said he slipped on the bend. We just put a line through it and luckily he has come out today and looked more like the horse we thought he was after winning at Epsom.

“He proved today he sees out the mile very well, which was a bit of a question mark.

“He is entered in the sales, so I’ll speak to the owner about whether we keep him in or not.”

The David Simcock-trained Arabian Leopard (4-1) lunged late to land the British Stallion Studs EBF Premier Fillies’ Handicap.

Placed on four of her five starts since breaking her duck here in May, she powered home under Sean Levey to pip 7-2 favourite Lady Roxby by a head.

“She deserved that, absolutely, and actually the slightly longer six (furlongs) here compared to the July course suits her because she’s really a seven-furlong filly,” said Simcock.

“It’s just finding the fillies’ races for her, that’s been the hardest thing. She’s been a model of consistency, bar one run at Ascot when it just didn’t happen – she wouldn’t have won at any trip that day. To win today is a nice way to close the season.”