Racing: Quinns combine to scoop sprint with Fantasy Explorer
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Your support makes all the difference.Jimmy Quinn was reunited with Fantasy Explorer, trained by his namesake John, in the £50,000 Giles Insurance Brokers Stakes at Ayr yesterday and the combination hit it off to land the five-furlong dash in style.
The jockey was content to track the leader, Harry Up, on the far side of the bunch and once he asked him to quicken the response was immediate.
Sweeping into the lead inside the final furlong, the 5-1 joint-favourite was driven out to hold Harry Up by a length, with Orientor a short head away in third.
The jockey, who had initiated 38-1 double on Ellens Academy, said: "I rode this horse first time out this season at Wolverhampton, but I said to John that at that time the track did not suit him and that he would improve on a straight track.
"He's been in great form, though this is the first time I've ridden him since Wolverhampton. It's nice to be back on him and win such a big pot."
The winning trainer said: "As things turned out he was drawn on the right side and he did it grand, Jimmy rode him because Graham Gibbons [his stable jockey] could not do 8st.
"He was running off 83 and I shouldn't think he will go up more than 5lb or 6lb so we'll have to see what we'll do with him now. He will go to Goodwood or York. Five furlongs is his trip, but we may look at a Listed race depending on how much he goes up the ratings."
The apprentice Andrew Mullen was suspended for one day for not riding to his draw on Harry Up
Eric Alston could not remember when he last saddled a winner at the course but Ellens Academy came to the rescue when proving too good for younger rivals in the Giles Corporate Handicap. The Preston trainer said of the 11-year-old: "He has won seven races and has been close in a lot of good races, I suppose he is a nearly horse really."
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