Improving handicapper Sea Legend adds to James Fanshawe riches with impressive Newcastle success

James Fanshawe unleashed a leading Derby hope on Saturday in Ambiente Friendly and he also looked to have a smart handicapping prospect when Sea Legend made an impressive stable debut.

The four-year-old ran out a comfortable winner of the 1m2f handicap under Danny Muscutt. He had been off the track for just over a year and the Sea The Stars gelding was breaking his maiden at the sixth attempt, having posted four top-three finishes when trained by Fozzy Stack.

Fanshawe said: "We got him but he had a problem in behind so he had to have a long time off. We gelded him and the last month he's gone nicely. He enjoyed that trip, he's got a big, long stride and I'm really pleased with that on his first run back.

"It was a relief to go to the races and run so well. I think he'll be suited by a mile and a half and we'll look at all the options in those nice handicaps. That was his first run for a year, so we wanted to get it out the way before making plans."

Fanshawe reported Saturday's Lingfield Derby Trial winner Ambiente Friendly to be in good shape after his weekend exploits. The Gleneagles colt remains an 8-1 chance for the Epsom Classic on June 1.

He said: "It's been a really good weekend. It's great when they're running well, and we've had runners at every corner of the country who have done well. Ambiente Friendly is fine, he was nice and bright on Sunday morning and seems A1."

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