Chateau bags Rose Bowl glory for Balding and Buick

While the Irish Thoroughbred Marketing (IRE) Incentive Scheme Rose Bowl Stakes did not quite pan out the way William Buick had planned, Chateau is still set for bigger and better things after a cheeky Newbury success.

The Listed six-furlong contest comprised six runners, yet Andrew Balding’s representative found all sorts of trouble, with his path blocked twice at crucial stages.

However, the title-chasing jockey managed to make the right decision at the right time, easing through a gap as Rogue Lightning edged left and he got up in the dying strides to record a length success from that rival.

The Isa Salman Al Khalifa-owned son of Havana Gold had also overcome trouble in running to score at Beverley before finishing fourth in the five-furlong Windsor Castle at Royal Ascot.

Buick briefly got that déjà vu feeling with a furlong and a half to race, before switching right and darting through the gap, with the colt much better value than the winning margin suggested.

“I was thinking what I was going to say afterwards when the gap didn’t arrive!” quipped a smiling Buick to the trainer after unsaddling.

“It was one of those things. I just had to wait for my run and he won snug in the end. Upped to six furlongs really suited him today and he’s got a lovely mind as well.”

Chateau, who sparked a double for the Highclere yard following Chaldean’s impressive success in the first division of the seven-furlong novice, may now be targeted at York’s Group Two Al Basti Equiworld Dubai Gimcrack Stakes on August 19.

Balding said: “There was a sense of relief, as William just had a slightly messy race and the same thing had happened at Beverley and he’d got away with it. But he is a talented horse and he has a great brain.

“It was nice to get back on a winning track with him.

“I would like to think he has won that with a lot in hand. We think he is a smart horse and he deserves to be running in a better race than that in future.

“He is in the Gimcrack and I think that will be the most likely target and it is a discussion we will have with Sheikh Isa first and see what he thinks.”