Bradsell booms in King’s Stand

Bradsell and Hollie Doyle survived a scare in the stewards’ room to win the King’s Stand Stakes.

Last year’s Coventry Stakes winner hung left into the path of Highfield Princess in the final 100 yards; but a winning distance of a length helped ensure the placings remained unchanged.

Yorkshire-based Highfield Princess was well-fancied to secure a fourth win at Group 1 level and went off 7/4 favourite. But she was outgunned to the line by Bradsell who showed a willing attitude all the way to the line.

Speaking to the press post-race Archie Watson said: ““He’s got so much speed, this horse. It was an easy decision to pull back to five, it wasn’t easy in that we had to pay £35,000 to supplement him! I was feeling slightly iffy yesterday when he was 40-1 in the betting, thinking ‘God, we’ve spent quite a lot of money for a 40-1 shot’.

“Sheikh Nasser was incredibly supportive and said if it’s the right race then we will go for it. I’m just delighted.”

Commenting on his rider Hollie Doyle, Watson continued “We’ve had 200-odd winners together now, she’s been massive for my career and I hope vice versa. What I’ve always said about Hollie is that she’s incredibly consistent. She doesn’t make many mistakes and she knows the team, she loves all the horses, she knows how we want them ridden.

“For a yard like us to have one of the top five jockeys in the country – which she is – to ride our horses is just fantastic.”