'Great to start the year with a bang" - Showman scores for Amy Murphy

Thegreatestshowman turned out for the second consecutive day and encapsulated many people's hopes that 2021 can banish the bad memories of 2020 by improving from his second place at Lingfield on New Year's Eve with a win on the Fibresand on New Year's Day.

Thegreatestshowman was winless from 13 runs last year but late money piled in for the five-year-old, trained by Amy Murphy, who subsequently justified his odds-on status by holding off the challenge of Giogiobbo in the 5f handicap.

"We're delighted because we'd been knocking at the door with him for ages," Murphy said. "He needs a strong pace and they didn't go fast enough for him on Thursday.

"He was fresh as a daisy when I took him out in the morning, so we thought we might as well take our chance."

Murphy, based in Newmarket, saddled a career-best total of 26 winners last year and is hoping to continue her upward trajectory in 2021.

Amy Murphy: 'We're trying to up the quality of our horses rather than the quantity'Credit: Sarah Farnsworth

"We'd like to better ourselves again," she said. "We're trying to up the quality of our horses rather than the quantity and it's great to start the year with a bang."

Marco Ghiani was the winning jockey, and the young Italian claimer enjoyed a memorable afternoon having earlier landed the mile handicap on the John Jenkins-trained Maykir.

Classy Curtis

Ben Curtis, who finished 2020 as the year's most successful jockey with a total of 170 victories, rode his first winners since returning from a horror fall at Wolverhampton last month

The George Boughey-trained Silent Queen proved a class apart in the 5f novice and Mr Carbonator, trained by Phil Kirby, followed up in the 1m3f handicap after several weeks spent on the sidelines for the reigning all-weather champion jockey.

Results, replays and analysis

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