DONCASTER THURSDAY

ROGER Varian and Andrea Atzeni can do little wrong at this meeting and Laugh A Minute, backed at much bigger prices than his 12/1 SP earlier in the day, landed some shrewd and well-informed bets in the very valuable Weatherbys Racing Bank £300,000 2-Y-O Stakes.

Andrew Balding’s Danzan had run fast for much of the way in the Acomb Stakes at York and was always prominent in the centre here. In front with two furlongs to travel, he was not stopping but Laugh A Minute made relentless progress towards the far side, hit the front inside the final furlong and went on to score by just over a length. Alba Power finished third with Great Prospector - 7/2 favourite and one of Richard Fahey’s six representatives - saving some of the each-way money in fourth.

The winner was a maiden until this week but had kept good company in all three outings. Sales races have an indifferent record when it comes to higher-class events but the form may work out well this time with the likes of Tangled, who won a similar race at the Ebor meeting, finishing only ninth. Six and a half furlongs certainly suited Laugh A Minute, who is by Fahey’s top-class sprinter Mayson out of the Dansili mare Funny Enough.

“The key was getting him to settle,” Atzeni remarked. “He didn’t quite get home over seven furlongs last time but he’s a horse with a high cruising speed and he should go on.”

Unusually, there were only four runners in the ten-furlong crownhotel-bawtry.com Handicap. A tactical affair ensued, with Dettori on Al Neksh shadowed by Ryan Moore on Dark Red.

The picture changed when Atzeni drove Richard Hannon’s Euginio, 11/4, to the front soon after the two-furlong marker. Another Eclipse, sharing favouritism, took a long while to get going but finally stayed on strongly for George Wood, only to go down by a neck.

Whether Euginio can make up into a Group 3 horse as Hannon suggests is questionable but he may take his chance in the Cambridgeshire.

On a day dominated by the gentler sex, Georgia Cox took the opening DFS Silk Series Lady Riders’ Handicap on Paul Midgley’s Buccaneers Vault, while William Haggas’ even-money favourite What A Home took full advantage of the stone and a half she received from the year-older Pacharana in the closing fillies’ handicap over a mile and a half. Paul Hanagan was in the plate.