Fantasy Keeper makes perfect start in handicaps for Appleby

Mick Appleby had travelled to Sweden to oversee his three runners at Jägersro so he was not in attendance as Fantasy Keeper, his only British runner on Tuesday, made a winning handicap debut in the 6f event under Oisin Murphy.

Appleby won the race 12 months earlier with 25-1 shot Secret Clause, but Fantasy Keeper's success was nothing like as unexpected.

In the trainer's absence, self-proclaimed "long-suffering" assistant Denis Woodward was on hand and said of the strapping son of Mayson: "He's a nice horse. He'd run only on the all-weather before and Oisin Murphy said he's likely to be a horse who likes soft ground, being big and by Mayson."