Gay Kelleway: 'Simon Dow won three races today - I won more from one claimer'

There may be plenty of new hurdles to overcome for those in the racing and breeding industry as the realities of Brexit begin to bite, but Gay Kelleway is determined to keep her love affair with French racing alive.

The Newmarket trainer sent Capla Knight and stablemate Vasco Da Gama across the Channel two days before Britain officially left the EU in order to avoid onerous new paperwork.

And the move paid off straight away as Capla Knight came from last turning for home to claim a dramatic success under Quentin Perrette in an all-weather claimer for apprentices at Deauville.

"I watched the racing from my sofa, and Simon Dow won three times [at Lingfield] for a total of £9,000, whereas I've just picked up a similar amount [£8,400] for winning one claimer at Deauville," said Kelleway.

"The horses only arrived at Chantilly with Anne-Sophie Crombez on Wednesday and they got down to -7 there so he only had a canter."

While Vasco Da Gama – who showed promise when trained by Henri-Francois Devin – will represent Kelleway and the Capla partners down at Cagnes-sur-Mer later this month, Capla Knight will be running under new ownership in the future after being claimed for €27,500.

"It's a shame to lose him, but I only paid 4,000gns for him after he failed to make his reserve at the Newmarket breeze-ups," said Kelleway. "People are running for honour and glory in England, but I have to pay the bills."

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Capla Knight won once and finished in the money on three other occasions over five starts in Britain, but he was enjoying by far his biggest payday here.

Deauville results

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